Parental Challenges

There is no misconception that today’s youth are facing many critical and challenging issues.
Society has thrown our youth in a state of mental turmoil. Adolescence is a critical time of sexual awakening. Young people’s bodies, thoughts, and emotions are going through rapid and unfamiliar changes. There sexual curiosity is at an all-time high. To many young men this is a time period when an enormous amount of peer pressure is placed on them to prove their credibility point among boys. And girls are faced with problems of low self-esteem, which may cause them to fall prey to the increase of male attention.
The values that the media has portrayed and is portraying about sexuality and sex to Society, is pornographic by any standards Movies and television are cynical at best about marriage and family. Many teens have never seen a happy marriage but have seen stereotypes that are shallow, unfaithful and disrespectful. They have painted a picture that states sexual intercourse has nothing to do with marriage. As parents we cringe at these thoughts we are faced with, the awareness that we need special skills and education, not traditional skills: during these years of our teen’s lives in order to help them navigate effectively through this period.
As a Christian counselor I would assist the parents that are available to me in the ways of developing effective parenting skills through education and Gods love.
It is my opinion that the ultimate and beginning responsibility lies with us as parents: however it takes a community at large this includes, our school system, churches, and the accountability of our media and government. This means our society as a whole. If we value the opposite sex as a gift from God it will be mirrored to our kids. Even when our teens are going through stages of rebellion against boundaries, as parents we should rest assured that the word of God and fervent prayer is effective in the lives of our