When Youth Workers Become Mug Shots. . . .
A few years ago my friends at Youth Specialties asked me to put together a new seminar for the National Youth Workers Convention. It was titled “Wisdom for a Young Youth Worker.” I came up with my list of things…
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A Parents’ Guide To Pokemon Go. . . A Helpful Infographic. . .
I was off the grid for a couple of weeks in July when Lisa and I stopped for lunch at a Chick-Fil-A just off the interstate in South Carolina. While standing in line the young twenty-something guy in front of…
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Post-Debate Thoughts. . . .
Not much sleep last night. In the midst of the uneasiness sparked by pondering where we’re at, how we got here, and what the future holds, I tried to put it all as best I could within the context of…
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Dear Dad. . . A Powerful Letter From a Young Athlete Who Wants to Quit. . .
This is one of those things that has to be passed on to others. It’s just too important to ignore. It comes from the Changing the Game Project, an organization created to essentially redeem youth sports, putting the “play” back…
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Nomophobia. . . Got It? A Helpful Infographic. . .
New stuff means new words. The folks at the Oxford Dictionary release a list of new dictionary entries (as well as those that have been eliminated) every year. Recently. . . and not surprisingly. . . a host of new…
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Antonio Brown. . . Are We All Twerkers?!? . . .
Outlandish, over-the-top celebrations in pro football are nothing new. No, they weren’t always “a part of the game.” And, the nature of the outlandish-over-the-topness has evolved (or perhaps “devolved”) over the years. But these displays have been around long enough for…
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Youth Ministry and Parents. . . Thoughts As You Kick Off The Year. . .
A Facebook post I spotted this morning got me thinking. A youth worker was asking his ministry peers for ideas on what he could address during this week’s annual meeting with parents. What caught my attention was his use of…
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A Little Message For Youth Workers On Broken Kids. . . And Some Things I’d Do Differently. . .
In his bestselling book Season of Life, Jeffrey Marx follows a season of high school football at Baltimore’s Gilman School. At the cookout following the team’s first preseason scrimmage, one of the moms approached head coach Biff Poggi to ask…
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Colin Kaepernick. . . Some Thoughts. . .
He certainly has people talking. And whether you like what Colin Kaepernick has been up to or not, I think that what he’s been up to is worth talking about. If nothing else, the 49er’s quarterback and one-hundred-fourteen-million-dollar man has…
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Self-Injury. . . The Scream On The Skin. . .
As a culture-watcher, I sometimes like to “rewind” as a way to gain perspective on just how much and how fast youth culture has changed. The practice serves to wake me up at times when familiarity with what was once…
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The Shame List. . . And How To Talk About Sex. . .
Last week, the folks at Campus Pride, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a safer college environment for LGBTQ students, released its 2016 Shame List of the absolute worst campuses for LBGTQ youth. As I scrolled through the list of colleges…
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Texting While Driving. . . A Powerful Video. . .
I didn’t know the story of Jacy Good until this morning. She was pictured on the front of our daily newspaper under the headline, “Jacy’s Mission.” The story reported on a new four-minute video that’s been viewed well over 50…
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