Why Parents Should Regulate Digital Technology for Their Kids with Dr. Kathy Koch [Podcast]

02/26/18 • 28 min

The digital technology that is so common today is allowing kids—and adults—to practice some healthy and productive habits and some destructive and unhealthy habits. Because of this, parents would be wise to regulate digital technology for their kids and develop guidelines for using it at home and away from home. Dr. Kathy Koch is the founder and president of Celebrate Kids Inc., a ministry based in Fort Worth, Texas. She has reached many educators, parents, kids, and others through numerous speaking engagements and appearances on radio programs. Dr. Koch has written six books. Her bestselling books include 8 Great Smarts: Discover and Nurture Your Child’s Intelligences and Screens and Teens: Connecting With Our Teens in a Wireless World. Before founding Celebrate Kids and becoming an active speaker, Dr. Koch was active in the field of education. At various times, she worked as an elementary school teacher, a coach, a tenured associate professor, and a school board member. How Dangerous Technologies of the Past Should Teach Us to Regulate Digital Technology Consider what it was like at the beginning of the 1900s. Industry and technology were developing quickly, and cars were quickly becoming a normal part of everyday life in America. How long do you think it took for people to realize that rules and regulations were needed to keep people safe on the road? As time went by, people noticed that things like signs, traffic lights, blinkers, seat belts, and many others were necessary to keep people safe. Next, they agreed that young people had to reach a certain age before being allowed to drive a car. Our society even dictated that adults had to take an exam and carry a license in order to get behind the wheel. All of this for a technology that doesn’t create addicts! Now we must consider the world we live in today. Technology is advancing faster than ever before in many areas. But unlike the early 1900s, when the dangers of new industrial technology were physical in nature, new digital technology effects minds, emotions, and attitudes more than physical bodies. Because these risks are harder to quantify, we seem to be taking our time in enacting a system of safety for digital technology. Today Dr. Kathy Koch and I discuss the influence of digital technology as we cover the following topics: Do Christians seem to be overlooking the point of christianity? How do our children’s behaviors connect to their media habits? The importance of relationships. Why your child’s opinions fluctuate so frequently. How do we train our kids not to compartmentalize? Why are parents struggling with improving their homes? How parents can rise above their peers and raise godly kids. Picture provided by: pixnio.com

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Are Ineffective Parenting Styles Leading to Increased Bad Behavior in Kids With Dr. Kevin Leman [Podcast]

While music videos, TV sitcoms, and Hollywood movies too often portray kids as having equal rights, authority, and wit as their adult counterparts, we are seeing similar behaviors playing out in real life as well. We see it in our school systems, internet videos, government, sporting events, grocery stores, and, sadly, even in our churches. Even younger kids do not seem to respect or mind their parents like they used to. Has our culture, itself, been a greater contributor to this than most of us realize? As God-fearing parents, how do we pass on our values to our kids, while maintaining our sanity in a society that’s gone insane? Dr. Kevin Leman is an internationally known psychologist and New York Times bestselling author of more than 50 books, including The Birth Order Book and Have a New Kid by Friday. His new book, Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours, is completely updated and expanded for a new generation of parents. The previous edition of this book sold more than 1 million copies. Dr. Leman lives with his wife, Sande, in Arizona; they have five children and four grandchildren. How Bad Behavior Is Becoming the New Normal For Kids It seems that just about everyone you talk to these days has a Walmart story. By that I mean a story about kids behaving badly while their parents do their best to maintain their sanity and dignity. I have a few of these Walmart stories myself. And it's not like Walmart is the only place that this happens, there are many other public venues where kids have been seen acting out and not minding their parents or other authority figures for that matter. In fact, it seems that the news regularly reports incidents of kids cussing-out, flipping-off, and even physically assaulting their teachers in the public school system with little-to-no consequences afterwards. The thing that I just can’t understand is that when kids get in trouble at school today, too many parents are quick to put the teachers on the hot seat instead of Junior. In the past, when you got in trouble at school, round two was coming even hotter and heavier from your parents when you got home. I was in a doctor’s office recently, and I overheard a conversation between two retired public school teachers. Both of them were talking about the incredible changes in today’s kids compared to just 10 years ago. They went on to talk about how happy they were to have gotten out at a time where they still had their sanity— and their lives! I’m not kidding! Things are a mess today. I know our parents’ generation gets accused of being too “authoritarian”—and maybe they were. But most kids did what their parents told them to do back then. Kids minded their parents—in their presence, anyway. Hopefully, today’s guest will help us figure out how we can get our kids to mind us, not only in our presence, but in our absence as well. Dr. Kevin Leman and I discuss effective parenting styles as we cover the following topics: What are the different parenting styles? Is there a parenting style that is harmful? Why your child might say that he or she “hates” you. Why encouragement is better than praising your child. Examples of an authoritative parent. How do I address violence in the home? The importance of not raising all of your kids in the exact same way. Picture provided by: alphalight1

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Why Parents and Kids Should Be Studying Christian Apologetics with Dave Glander [Podcast]

If parents and children knew the answers to the myriad objections to the Christian position on God, the Gospel, and the Bible, the reality of God would prompt parents to be more diligent in raising their kids according to the mandates of Scripture, and our young people might not be so eager to exit the church in droves. Additionally, parents probably would not be dealing with some of the struggles with their kids that that they are currently facing either. That, in and of itself, makes it worth heeding the Scriptural imperative to be prepared to defend our faith. Raising godly kids with the knowledge and the courage to defend their convictions is a recipe for emotionally healthy offspring. Dave Glander was a devout atheist prior to a radical encounter with Jesus Christ. He is now a deeply committed believer in Christ and the Bible. Dave is the founder of the apologetics-based ministry Truth Ministries which is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also a co-pastor at The Way in Hoschton, Georgia and co-founder of an apologetics-based youth summer camp called EQUIP retreat. Dave is the author of the Faith Survival Guide apologetics curriculum. He owns and currates the Museum of Truth, an 1800-square-foot traveling biblical museum, and he has hosted his own radio program called What Is Truth. Dave currently lives in the Atlanta area with his wife, Stephanie, and their son, Marc. How Studying Christian Apologetics Can Help Answer Questions About the Faith Shepherds Hill Academy is proof that studying Christian apologetics is important. Quite often, I watch students make their own determinations about God, Scripture, and Christianity as they learn more about the faith. We do not force Shepherds Hill Academy students to trust in the Gospel or profess trust in Jesus, and we never would. Actually, sometimes the very thing that is motivating our students to rebel in the first place is the feeling that they have been forced into Christianity by their parents. At Shepherds Hill Academy, we simply try to respond to our students’ uncertainty about the faith. We answer questions and explain why we believe what we believe. Many of the students at Shepherds Hill Academy come from families that, to some extent, accept Christianity and follow its principles. This doesn’t apply to every student, but it does apply to the majority. A disconnect can occur in teens when they look at our culture and start to believe that the rest of the country has a different worldview and belief system, and, at least at that moment, they like what they see in our culture more than what they see in the faith of their parents. A worldly belief system that values the pursuit of whatever makes you feel happy seems pretty appealing to them. They may begin to think that there is no way their parents are right and this worldly belief system is wrong, and unfortunately, this is exactly what the devil wants them to think. Trace Embry and Dave Glander discuss how to keep kids strong in the faith as they discuss the following topics: Who is Dave Glander? How were Dave’s atheistic beliefs changed? Why facts are not enough. Do you need a degree to pursue apologetics? Do other religions really have the amount of evidence as Christianity? How can parents get their teens involved in apologetics? Who are the upcoming thought leaders of apologetics? Picture provided by: John-Mark Smith