Parents and Youth Culture

As a parent, what is your posture regarding how your kids will best navigate today’s youth culture? I want to warn you against two dangerous postures. Some parents take the approach I call false optimism. It’s an approach that looks at the world and with a shrug of the shoulders says, “No need to worry, Everything is going to be alright.” Truth is, the collective lot of children and teens hasn’t gotten any better. False optimism leads to forfeited influence because there’s nothing anyone needs to do. Another dangerous posture is what I call alarmist pessimism, which looks at the world and says, “It’s so bad and so far gone that nobody can do anything about it.” Not only does this view belittle God, but it too forfeits parental influence because there’s nothing anyone can do. I would like to encourage you to take the approach of biblical realism, as you seek to accurately understand the culture forces out there, so that you can responsibly lead your kids into navigating all of life to God’s glory.