Landmark Moments

I can clearly remember the look on my Mother’s face when I flashed the biggest “cheese” smile ever. It was my Jr. High graduation and my parents were among the many fighting their way toward the front row to get a picture of their child. My fake smile came from a mix of emotions. Not only was I extremely embarrassed by my parents but I was also trying to act more mature. After all, I would soon be gracing the hallways of High School and who knew what was waiting for me after that.

Celebrating moments like these can have a profound impact on the lives of young people. As children grow, they begin to look for landmark moments in their life, by which they gauge their movement towards adulthood. The closer they get to high school graduation, and the life afterwards, they want to know that they have successfully started the transformation. In his book Rite of Passage Parenting author and president of Awe Star Ministries, Walker Moore speaks of a cultural gap where we have lost significant moments that mark the development of young people. Here are a few suggestions to help you mark the significant stages in the life of your teen.

1. Celebrate your son/daughter’s physical development.
As you know, our bodies are designed to tell us when we are physically entering into adolescence. Use this time in the life of your teen to mark a transition. Throw a party, or have the parent of the same gender take them on a trip to celebrate their knew stage in life and talk about challenges that will accompany this new stage.

2. Add privilege and responsibility in equal amounts.
Privilege maybe best managed with the right dose of responsibility. A teen that has too much privilege and not enough responsibility tends to overstep your boundaries more easily. Meanwhile, a teen with too much responsibility and not enough privileges may be prone to resentfulness. Also, a gradual increase in privilege and responsibility, rather than a big jump, will help in making the transition more fluid. For example, try adding a chore for every half an hour longer that they can stay out on the weekends.

3. Take special note of Spiritual growth and development.
A young persons decision to follow Christ is one of the most important choices that he/she will make in their youth. By marking this choice as a landmark in their life, as a parent, you can help them be more accountable to their decision. As a young person grows in their relationship with God and with other Christians commend them for their faith.

We see some of these traits in Jesus as well. In Luke 2:51-52 the Bible says “Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” By Jesus staying behind in Jerusalem he was showing his parents that he was starting to become the person that God wanted him to be. The Bible tells us that Jesus grew in his understanding of the world and things of God. He grew physically from a boy into a man. I’m sure that Joseph was able to use his teenage son more around the carpentry shop, giving him more responsibility as he matured physically. Jesus also grew in relationship, both with God and with his community. It is such a joy watching young people grow into the adults that God has planned for them to be. By helping them have clear stages in their life to grow and show responsibility we can help them be the best person that they can be for God.

Youth Group Files