Parenting Teens - Links and Resources
This page began as the place to post all the resources we discussed in our parenting teens discussion group in the spring of 2024. Those links will remain archived below, along with other general parenting resources here. Questions? Contact Pastor Jim. (Call the church or find his email address in the church bulletin - we don’t post email addresses here to prevent spam.)
A new resource: Axis Parent Resources Guide to 2025
Here’s another bonus: Summer Family Discipleship Guide from Empowered Homes (Note: it will likely first try to get you to log into Dropbox or install the app. Just skip that stuff and download the file only. This file was too big to just embed on the site as is.)
Week 5 - Discipling Our Teens (Following Jesus rather than just teaching good behavior)
When you encounter lies in the world around you, ask:
1. What did that just say?
2. What did that mean?
3. Is it right? (how will that work out for them?)
4. How do you know? (what’s your source of truth here?)
Biggest obstacles I’ve seen in successfully discipling teens:
- Parental inconsistency/hypocrisy
- Parents undercutting each other
- Parental prayerlessness
Week 4 - LGBTQIA+
The Center for Faith, Sexuality, and Gender - a wealth of resources
Books for parent perspective (again, just handing a book to a teenager in hopes that it will “fix” them is a losing strategy):
Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry
Single Gay Christian by Gregory Coles
Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say by Preston Sprinkle
Living in a Gray World: A Christian Teen’s Guide to Understanding Homosexuality by Preston Sprinkle (NOTE: this is the one book on this list I would actually give to a teenager, but only if they’re asking questions and express interest in reading such a thing.)
Axis Parent Resources Parent Guide:
Week 3 - Dating and Sexuality
Axis Parent Resources Parent Guides:
A conversation guide to help you talk with your teen about dating is found here.
Week 2 - Anxiety
Axis Parent Resources Parent Guide: Anxiety
Books:
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
Winning the War in Your Mind for Teens by Craig Groeschel
The Anxious Teen by Brock Morgan
Week 1 - Smartphones and Social Media
Axis Parent Resources Parent Guides:
Guides for setting parental controls on smartphones:
Android and others:
https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/smartphones-and-other-devices/
Apple/IOS:
NOTE: Here’s the specific setting in Apple’s Screen Time settings that will prevent the teenagers’ popular “sign out of Apple ID” workaround for parental controls on iPhones: Settings/Screen Time/Content & Privacy Restrictions/Allow Changes/Account Changes
https://support.apple.com/en-us/105121