Today's blog post is adapted from a parent talk my non blogging kidmin son, Trevor Farris, has put together for the church where he is a children's pastor. I asked him if I could share it, because I believe every parent needs to be aware of what's going on in their child's social media world. Trevor ministers to some super amazing kids and with some even more amazing volunteers at Valley Real Life is Spokane Valley, WA. If you're ever in the area, be sure to check it out.
Social Media is big, but think about it—it's the smallest that it is ever going to be.
Every day, more videos, tweets, pictures, and blogs are being uploaded onto the Internet than ever before. This chart from domo.com gives some pretty convincing evidence that social media is big–every minute of every day. Go ahead, take a second and check it out really quick.
Those are some insane statistics! As more and more websites and apps are being created, it's nearly impossible for adults to keep up . . . but. . . it's not for your kids.
So here are 5 things you need to know about Social Media, your child, and what you can do to be more informed about it.
This is by no means an insult. They simply have the time to learn! With texting, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, KiK, AskFM, Omegle, and a million other options, they can absorb more budding technology than we can dream of. And they use it for everything! So what do you do?
You don't know if your child is ready for SnapChat? Ask them about it! Are you not sure how Instagram works? Ask your son/daughter! You need to know what your kids are doing, because there is so much that they are able to do on their iPods and phones. But please understand this—you don't need to know more about technology than them…just being aware is a huge step.
Speaking of being aware…it is really easy to lie about who you are on the Internet. Your children may not be sharing information with the person that they think they are. Make sure that your kids are using appropriate social media (Honoring age restrictions is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), and are familiar your rules on Internet etiquette.
Kids and teens today have hundreds and thousands of friends. And if they are anything like me, they don't know who most of them are! If someone sends me a friend request on Facebook, and I have a mutual friend…BAM! we're friends now. And they can have all these friends at their fingertips while they sit in their bedroom alone. They don't have to go out and have conversations. Be sure to have "Tech-free" times in your home when personal interaction is required to keep your kids checked in to reality.
For those of you who still don't understand hashtags, you are not alone. Hashtags are sort of like little file folder tabs that help you created to help you find what you are looking for on a certain topic. Let's say you and your family go on a short vacation to Six Flags St. Louis for Spring Break. Your daughter posts a selfie from the line of the Batman ride. And the caption says, "I LOVE SIX FLAGS! #RollerCoasters #Family #SpringBreak." But you need to realize that when she clicks on the "#SpringBreak," she has access to ANYONE'S pictures that have that same tag. Think about that. I'm assuming there are pictures from Spring Break Cancun on the Internet that you'd love for your kids to never see. Know what hashtags your kids are using, because they can have access to all sorts of things they probably shouldn't.
This month HiSKidZ at our church are learning about prayer. It seems that while we pray a lot, we haven't done the best job of teaching about prayer, and since even the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, it's something we should be giving some thought to as we disciple our children in their faith walks with God.
We are loosely using Discpletown's How to Pray curriculum and tweaking it to fit our own format and structure. Each week this month we are looking at different aspects of prayer connected to the word pray—Praise, Repentance, Asking and Yielding. It's nothing new, but it's definitely worth bringing out to a new generation to help them grow in their conversations with the Lord.
This week, HiSKidZ in our Discovery/Sunday School hour will be making these prayer posters to help them understand each of the 4 aspects of prayer that we are teaching.
All you need is four envelopes, a piece of poster board, some tape, some markers or crayons, a hole punch and a piece of yarn.
Tape the envelopes to the poster board. On each one write one of the aspects of prayer. Punch holes in the top corners and string some yarn through them so they can hang their poster up at home.
The idea is that children and their family can write out prayers and put them in the envelopes. Writing out prayers, even simple prayers helps us to focus and think about things like praise, repentance, what we are asking for and yielding to what God is asking us to do.
Wow! I can't believe how long it has been since I've had/made the time to blog. Thoughts are continually swirling in my head, but the tyranny of the urgent often takes over before I get them into print. I think that's how it is in parenting sometimes. Little things keep popping up that keep us from other things that really need to get done.
Don't misunderstand me. I'm not in any way saying that writing down some thoughts in a blog is equivalent to the task of parenting children. Yet the principle still holds true that we often let things that seem bigger trump things that seem smaller, and as my small group and I are discovering this summer, the small things often are the big things, we just don't always realize it.
David was talking to Solomon when he was about to become king about building the permanent temple which would include the place where God would reside. As believers, we are now the place where God resides, and the task of training up our children to know the Lord, follow Him, and to live as His dwelling place can be a daunting task.
But don't be discouraged. God will not fail you. He will not leave you. You've got the this. Simply remember the words of David and acknowledge God, serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; seek Him; be strong and courageous and do the work. And have a great Dadderday doing it!!