It has been 2 months and 13 days since I last wrote to you, and I apologize for my absence.  I am excited about the opportunity to have some in depth discussions with you all; please feel free to ask questions, agree, or disagree let us just ensure a level of respect maintained for one another.

I want all of you who have kids, whether children or teens, to know how grateful I am for you.  I know many of you struggle with your children over different issues, phases, and challenges they face on a daily basis.  Many times we can find ourselves looking at this generation of students and wonder what has happened; how could it have gotten to this point.

Here is the catch.  This generation is a reflection on the generation who raised them... 

...DON'T QUIT READING YET!

I am not throwing anyone under the bus here, but I want us to consider how much time kids are allowed to spend on phones, computers, game systems, etc.  As a minister to students I have to convey a scary fact that many teens in our church and many other churches as well have become more and more detached from personal interaction.  I cannot tell you how many discussions I have had with students through texting because they struggle to have the conversation in person, much less through a phone call. 

Teens have been allowed to unplug from society so to speak and have gone wireless in all forms of communication with most of the people they engage with on a day to day basis.  I have included a top five list of how to tell your family could use more personal interaction.  Please know this is unofficial but based on many hours of observations and discussions with students.

#1 - If you have had a conversation with your kid via texting while in the same house.

#2 - If you have had at least one enormous cell phone bill before signing up for unlimited texting.

#3 - You find out about how your kids day was from their facebook status updates.

#4 - The last birthday present you bought for your kid was an imaginary gift paid for on facebook.

#5 - You or your child begins speaking or writing in abbreviations (lol, idk, jk, nbd, rotfl, etc.)

Some of these are funny, but on some level these may describe your and your students interactions.  I want to encourage you to engage your child on a very real and personal level this week.  Hug them, talk to them face to face, ask them how their life is going.  I know it may seem like they do not care or want to have little to nothing to do with you on occasion or most of the time for some of you.  Please do not give up on your kids, they are still learning from you.  We can reinforce the stereotypes above, or decide our family will not be a reflection of the culture, but will be a house of dedicated personal relationships.

Invest in your child!  They are your gift!