Parenting: Realities, Influence, and Cultural Conversation

Meredith Cleveland and Joe Rustum, both licensed counselors who work with adolescents, join us to talk about parenting and the mental health of our children. They'll explore best practices, flags to look for, and answer questions posed by our parents. 

Pieter Valk, a licensed counselor, author and speaker (his website is https://www.pieterlvalk.com), and David Hannah, campus and teaching pastor at The Church at Lockeland Springs, join us to talk about raising our children in a culture that, at times, appears opposed to the Gospel and how to engage the LGBTQ+ community in a way that doesn't make it a win/lose situation. Pieter and David answer a lot of questions from parents while pointing them towards the Gospel and challenging and affirming the listener in a lot of great ways.  

Amber Carroll talks with us about helping our kids determine their relationship call and explains that one call is not more important than the other. She also shares about helping our kids become comfortable with topics that some might call uncomfortable, thinking through age appropriate conversations to have with our children about sexuality, and much more. 

Anne Fotrell, a licensed therapist who has spent decades working with children and teenagers, joins us to talk about social media, cell phones, and the challenges of setting healthy boundaries. She'll talk with us about cyber bullying, when is the "right" age to get a phone, letting our kids fail, and much more. 

We all want our kids to have good influences in their lives, but how do you help them find those good influences? What should they look for? How do you help them decide if someone is a good influence? What do you do when your child allows a not good influencer into their life? Brandon and Darlene Abbott help us explore this topic. They have walked with their 3 kids, ages 23, 20 and 16, and asked a lot of the same questions you have and I have about influences in the lives of our kids. Brandon is the Connection Minister at our Station Hill Campus and Darlene is a teacher at Zion Christian and writes for Lifeway and other well known publications. 

We continue our parenting conversation by exploring Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Amy Jo Girardier leads us by sharing about the characteristics that identify each generation, what drives and motivates them, and share some of her experiences from ministering to these generations. Amy Jo served as the Girl's Minister for over 15 years before recently transitioning into Women's Ministry. Along with a passion for understanding how God created each generation, Amy Jo is one of us as she parents two boys, ages 10 and 5. 

Jonathan Boye, a professional counselor who focuses on teenagers, talks with us about how we approach parenting, setting expectations and goals as a family, fear driven results, and much more.