- Today’s Teens (Heath & Harvard)
- Less able to develop intimate relationships
- Unable to set goals
- Selfish pragmatism determines choices
- Self-worth established by others
- Motivated by payoff in either fun or materialism
- Basic needs of all youth of all generations is expressed by these five questions:
- Who am I?
- Why am I here?
- Do I belong?
- Where am I going?
- How will I get there?
- What is different for today’s youth?
- A child’s first real contact with life comes through the family. What is today’s family like?
- An extended family does not exist.
- More than 33% are in broken homes.
- More than 20% have an unwed mother.
- Most homes are materialistic and non-relational.
- No listening skills to understand others
- No ability to show love to others
- No ability to affirm others
- No ability to confront others
- No ability to forgive others
- No ability to make good decisions
- Many things compete with relationships.
- Entertainment
- Video games
- Computers
- The rules of the world are changing.
- A child’s first real contact with life comes through the family. What is today’s family like?
- Three keys to long-term memory (learning)
- Informal setting
- Emotional involvement
- Relational in nature
- Today’s Youth
- Group-oriented—gangs and peers
- Entertainment saturated—technical innovations
- Prone to violence
- Reject higher authority—moral absolutes are a thing of the past
- Very promiscuous sexually
- Multi-cultural
- Into alternate lifestyles
- Faced with adult pressures and temptations—no protection of youth
- Used to seeing leadership fall (Presidents and preachers)—heroes gone
- Stressed out in life already
- Media-directed
- 40% and more intoxicated at least once in the previous year
- Changes necessary to reach youth today
- Start with authority and absolutes.
- Give a clear vision of their possible future.
- Have a program to identify their level and get them to the next.
- Use inductive teaching with interaction—manipulation doesn’t work anymore.
- Teach them the skills of relationship building.
- Honor and respect
- Love and giving
- Listening and understanding
- Affirming, complimenting, and building up others
- Dealing with conflict in relationships
- Confrontational skills
- Forgiving others and asking for forgiveness
- Teach them thinking skills and decision-making to help them integrate their faith with their world. How do these fit together?
- Richardson in Group Magazine lists thirteen basic needs all youth share–
- Belong
- Feel safe
- Have caring relationships
- Be loved
- Develop emotional stability
- Be challenged
- Be active
- Know the Bible
- Achieve new relationships with peers
- Achieve masculine/feminine roles
- Accept their physical appearance
- Prepare for a vocation
- Achieve socially responsible behavior