Ep 14: Connecting With Teens; See the Good. Part 2: Independence
In this second part of our three part series on teens, we dive into independence. We talk about why independence is so important for teens and how we can foster identity and autonomy. We share our experiences with raising 7 teens (and counting!).
In This Episode We Discuss:
What independence means.
What happens when teens are not allowed to be independent during these formative years.
Identity and autonomy.
How to cultivate independence.
Teaching choice.
Cultivating our own independence.
Mentioned in this episode:
Hold On to Your Kids by Gabor Mate
DECLARATIONS
Jesus, thank You for purchasing Freedom for us! We ask right now for new insights and revelations about just how free we are. We release all preconceived, weird ideas about who we are that aren’t of You. We allow and invite You to inform our identities and those of our teenagers. We relinquish and reject control, manipulation and fear, in Your Name.
We celebrate our teenagers. Thank You for these incredible people. We open up to deeper Love and more understanding. We unclench, breathe, and shake off the negative ideas and lies that have crept into our relationships with them as a result of caring for them and wanting only the best for them. You know our hearts and our motives. We love them so much and we don’t want to be scared. So we intentionally turn towards curiosity, to Your plans and purposes, to Your choreography and mastery and we choose YOU for THEM, again and again.
We speak and breathe life into everything that’s conceived in them. No word about, from, or by You returns to You having accomplished nothing...so every seed that’s been planted; we declare the Light and nourishment of God into you, teenagers! Germinate, grow, stretch, unfurl, blossom and flourish, free of futility and full of splendour!
We choose the unflappability of Jesus. We get to screw up, and so do our kids. Give us mercy, humility, peace and discernment. Give us the words of Jesus to lift, encourage, exhort and comfort these precious ones.
We wholeheartedly roll out the welcome mat again for our teenagers. You are their true rescue and redemption. Gift for the first time, OR restore the utter joy and peace of Your salvation to them and fill them with Hope, zeal, energy and endurance. Inspire them with an entrepreneurial spirit, with Your creativity, with a questing heart, with courage and humility. Give them an encounter today that is irrefutably YOU, and not something their Mom said ABOUT You!
Have Your way, Jesus, with our kids. Your kingdom come, and Your will be done in every facet of their lives, as it is in heaven. We trust You implicitly and get out of Your way in anticipation of You moving and speaking!