I have to say, and this may be a little controversial, but, my experience is that there are a lot of teenagers in the 11th or 12th grade who don’t seem to have a focus on their future because of the expectations of the adults in their lives. They’ve grown up with the adults around them expecting that they go to college.
I think that bar begins to shift in adolescence. It’s a moving target depending on what’s going on in their lives. But in adolescents, chores become a more obvious part of their life. When a child is a teenager, then there is much more focus on what they earn.
I think that that watching movies with your children can be entertainment, but I think any type of entertainment can also be used to advance the course of wisdom, advanced of course of knowledge, information. And I really believe that watching movies with your children can really provide a ton of conversation.
It all starts with value. You stay relevant by being valuable. You know, your child is an adult. This is a 34 year old human being. And, and the decisions you’re child is making our adult decisions and they’re making adult decisions about where they spend their time and who they spend their time with and, and who they listen to and who they don’t listen to and who they seek out for help and who they don’t.
Yes, parents can give children too much, especially teenagers. And I see it happen all the time. I watch it and I’m baffled sometimes as to how parents are unable to look forward into their child’s life and understand how do you not understand what’s going to happen here.
One reason is because people want to be around them. I think there are very few things, more repelling than an ungrateful, selfish child. But don’t let me get off on that side road. I think that it is important to raise grateful children because you want to raise grateful adults.
Our boys are older now, but we have talked about our mission statement for years. That mission statement is framed—it’s in our front hallway and so it has been a part of our lives. And your family mission statement can be a part, not just of your family’s life, but of your family’s everyday awareness.
Well, that’s kind of a loaded question. You know, I could say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to that and probably argue either side of it, but I’m going to give you a qualified ‘yes.’ I think that your children should be allowed to watch television, but you need to monitor what they’re watching.