Not your grandma’s parenting.

Parenting is hard. It’s always been hard. But today, I think it’s become harder than ever. Just think for a minute about the difference between when I grew up in the 1980’s and how my kids are growing up today. Of course, my parents still worked hard to keep us safe, but back then, it meant making sure we knew to say ‘no’ to any strangers offering us candy while we roamed the neighborhoods, and reminding us not to do drugs. Things like limiting media, could be as as simple as turning off the TV, or choosing not to subscribe to MTV.

Yes, there were challenges and dangers and misinformation, but the system itself was set up to help and support parents. Schools supported parents and their right to raise their children in the way they deemed appropriate. Television stations and airlines only showed edited versions of movies so kids wouldn’t accidentally be exposed to things their parents didn’t want them to see or hear.

(How many of us who lived during the eighties have had the experience where we went to show our kids a movie we remember watching on TV in the eighties, only to realize with horror, that apparently we saw the edited version!)

Parenting today feels like being set up to lose.

Today, the system is working against us. Our youth are being pushed and pulled on every side, facing immense pressure to accept and celebrate every new idea that comes along, no matter how crazy.

Kids have access to the internet and all the videos, memes, and information (both true and false!) it holds.

Smartphones and social media have increased social pressures and isolation.

The world of politics is agenda-driven and divisive.

Mental health struggles and stress are on the rise and religion and faith are on the decline.

Parents and children are bombarded on every side with media filled with crass language and scenes that used to only be found in R-rated movies.

Parents are overwhelmed and burned out

Back in the day, my parents had to talk with their daughters about not wearing a skirt too short to be appropriate for church. Today’s parents have to talk with their girls about whether they are actually transgender or going through a normal phase of feeling uncomfortable in their body.

If you wanted to do drugs in earlier times, you had to get up the nerve to approach that one kid in school that everyone whispered about, and ask them to hook you up without getting caught. Today, our kids can easily place an order for marijuana on their phones and receive it through the mail.

All of this is both bewildering and exhausting to the youth and the parents trying to raise them. Parents are finding themselves perpetually behind the curve when it comes to keeping up with the constantly shifting world their kids are growing up in, and are burned out in numbers higher than ever before.

It has become vital that we, as parents, teachers and leaders of youth, find ways to recharge and strengthen ourselves. We can and should support one another in this amazing, terrifying, joy-filled, heartbreaking journey.

There is hope and help for today’s parents.

IT IS POSSIBLE to find peace as a parent again.

IT IS POSSIBLE to teach your kids in values-oriented ways.

IT IS POSSIBLE to hold onto hope and faith even as your kids struggle and let go of all you taught them.

IT IS POSSIBLE to find uplifting media that will support you in your efforts instill good principles in your family.

THERE IS HOPE.

THERE IS HELP.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!