The Power of Being There
8/23/2007
In the next 30 minutes, in the United States alone, there will be 29 kids attempting suicide, 57 adolescents will run away, 22 teenage girls will get an abortion and 685 teenagers will use some form of narcotics AND that's only in the next 30 minutes. Multiply those statistics by even a day or a week or a year, and we have a major problem with morals and values in the U.S. and around the world.
Kids today are facing issues that you and I didn't have to face as young people. The greatest users of internet pornography are boys ages 12 to 17. Frankly, I wouldn't want to be that age today. Sure, we were 6, 11, 15 and 18 but we were never their age They experience so much so young.
What makes it even more complicated is that studies show that there is only a very small difference between the behavior of church kids and non-church kids. That's with only one exception when parents practice the power of being there for children.
Is there hope?
You bet there is. Youth workers today must teach parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, that along with us, they have the opportunity to practice the Power of Being There. Children regard your very presence as a sign of caring and connectedness. When kids feel cared for and connected to their parents and other significant adults, they make wiser decisions about their morals and values. Jesus said it best, Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them. Your involvement and mentoring in the life of a child is one of your highest callings and will pay spiritual dividends for generations to come. Don't give up when times get tough, but continue to do everything you can do to speak into the lives of your kids. Your presence makes a difference.
Kids today are facing issues that you and I didn't have to face as young people. The greatest users of internet pornography are boys ages 12 to 17. Frankly, I wouldn't want to be that age today. Sure, we were 6, 11, 15 and 18 but we were never their age They experience so much so young.
What makes it even more complicated is that studies show that there is only a very small difference between the behavior of church kids and non-church kids. That's with only one exception when parents practice the power of being there for children.
Is there hope?
You bet there is. Youth workers today must teach parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, that along with us, they have the opportunity to practice the Power of Being There. Children regard your very presence as a sign of caring and connectedness. When kids feel cared for and connected to their parents and other significant adults, they make wiser decisions about their morals and values. Jesus said it best, Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them. Your involvement and mentoring in the life of a child is one of your highest callings and will pay spiritual dividends for generations to come. Don't give up when times get tough, but continue to do everything you can do to speak into the lives of your kids. Your presence makes a difference.
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I'm so blessed to read this
I'm so blessed to read this article.. I'm working as a 6th grade teacher... so this is truly amazing that The Power of Being There also needed by this grade ( and all grades for sure)... Sometimes I do really give up of teaching my Students character.. I do... but If I see Jesus through every face of my Students, all I can do is crying... crying not to give up... but I'm crying to remember how GREAT HIS love that saved me... so now it's my time to help those children to saw HIS LOVE... Sometimes I cry just because blaming myself just because I have no patient waiting them all... lots of problem in the family... sometimes they just try to carry out the burdens.. but they don't even know how to express it... for this reason I am called... thanks for this article... if there's any about teaching parents how to deal with teenagers it will be great... thank you.. God bless!!
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