David Eaton - Engaging Your Teens World: Understanding What Todays Youth Are Thinking, Doing, and Watching

We Know You Care

If youre cracking open these pages, you care about a teenager. You are a parent, grandparent, teacher, coach, student pastor, mentor, or youth worker. Perhaps your greatest tool in shaping the soft clay of their lives is the simplest tool you wield: You care . You care enough to worry about them, have hard conversations with them, invest your precious time into them, discipline them, pray for them, and pick up a book like this one to learn how you can help them. And if you dont actually do all those things, you want to.

Chances are that someone cared for you as you navigated your turbulent and insecure teenage years. Perhaps a teacher spoke vision into you, a coach challenged you to dig deep, a parent reached past your destructive behavior, or a grandparent made you feel like you were worth loving. A moment of care or belief can change everything! We all need someone to care about us and believe in us when we are young. Care is vital, but unfortunately, its not enough. Youre going to need more tools in your tool belt.

Teens have a bad reputation. Too often we talk down about them. We have low expectations of them, and many times they live up to that low bar weve set. You had better believe they pick up on our lack of confidence in them. Many of us have believed lies that teens are full of problems, and that we just need to wait it out so they can limp into adulthood. Youth expert Sharon Galgay Ketcham says, We problematize teenagers and use significant resources to try to Our Axis team of culture translators and parent research assistants agrees!

Teens are also battling massive issues. There are apps, troubling videos, sexual images, and cyber bullying entering their world through smartphones. There are opioids, Adderall, marijuana, and vapes entering their bloodstream. There are mental health, depression, and anxiety issues welling up inside their brains. They live in a noisy world clamoring for their attention. Your blood pressure is probably rising as you read this. You probably wonder how you can talk about God, the Gospel, the church, and the family in a culture crowded with these vices. Keep reading. Weve got good news!

We want to make our motives clear; we want you to move from a caring adult in the life of a teen to a confident influencer of your teen. Our Axis team helps tens of thousands of parents understand teen culture every week, and we want to equip you to join the teens you care about on their journey into lifelong faith. Think of us as your research assistants. God put them in your life and you in their life on purpose. We believe in you, and we want to help you. We want to watch your confidence and passion for discipling your teen spike like it has for tens of thousands of parents. We want to help you engage your teens world.