What a weird couple of days! I’ve been a youth pastor for over 10+ years (working with children and youth in some capacity) and I can say that this is probably the most interesting season that I have been a part of. Kids are home and it’s not summer vacation or a school break, there is no theater productions, sport activities, school events, limited church events, restaurants aren’t open….
It poses the question, what on earth should I be doing with my middle and high school students!?!?!?!?!?
Here are some ideas in no particular order.. Really, these are just some of my prayers for students and their families in this time.
Schedule (as a guideline not an end-all-be-all)
First, let me say that I am not a schedule guy… but idle time can often not be good for people especially teenagers, so encourage them to be intentional with their time. Help them plan their day and when you hear “I don’t know” or “I don’t want to” just see that as a opportunity to ask more questions and help them have ownership of the process. The goal here is to just help your teenagers be intentional with their time.
Goals
Help your teenagers think about some fun goals that they might accomplish. Everything from exercising to reading to learning new games… anything that they can do to keep their energy directed in positive directions is awesome.
Get Outside
I love seeing people hiking more… riding bikes (personal favorite)… unless otherwise advised by the county health, get your teenagers outside and let them play.
Re-evaluate Family/Individual Priorities
In this unexpected downtime, consider evaluating the bigger picture of what and how your family spends time together. As your kids are around more use this time to figure out if you’d like this to be something that you continue to do once your family returns to school. Check out the message from yesterday and discuss it as a family (click here)… start using this extra time to determine and make a plan forward in forming new rhythms for your family.
Read or Listen to A Book
This one isn’t that complex… consider less screen time and encourage reading or listening to a book.
Talk to Each Other
As you are spending more time with your teenagers, be intentional with the conversations you have. Don’t shy away from conversation! If you find yourself frequently getting stuck or running out of things to talk about consider a book like this, or google it to find something like this. This is a rare moment in time when you get some extra attention from your teenagers by nature of proximity, see each moment as one to cultivate deeper relationship.
Be Wise
This one is simple, and perhaps redundant to mention; but, make smart decisions with where/who/how/when you let your teenagers go out and how they spend their free time. They will most likely want to be out and about and you’ll have to decide when that is appropriate, knowing full-well that they will probably be a little stir crazy.
Prayer & Reading your Bible
Model these practices for your teenagers and then invite them into the process with you. Encourage them to spend some time in their bible and in prayer and ask them about the things they are reading and praying for.
That’s it for now…
I believe that this time has great potential to be one that is remembered positively for years to come. My prayer is that we can journey down this road together. Please let me know what your thoughts are in the comment section and what some helpful ideas have been for you so far.