Talking as a family creates connection and opportunities to talk about topics that really matter in the lives of your teens.
Talking Points:
- Talking will help your kids. Talking with your kids will help them parse out some of the tough emotions that come with adolescence.
- A culture of conversation. It’ll take time and concerted effort, but you can change the culture of your family if you truly desire it and take the right action steps to make it happen.
- The discovery principle. If you want your kids to take ownership of their lives, they need to discover things for themselves rather than simply checking off all the boxes you’ve drawn up for them.
- The ownership principle. Ownership is about self-responsibility. People live out values when they have a sense of ownership for those values.
Discussion:
- Initial reactions to this topic? What jumped out at you?
- Are you excited about having family conversations, or is it intimidating/frightening for you? Explain.
- In what ways does your family communicate well? How could you learn to communicate better? Explain.
- Read Deuteronomy 6:5-9. The commands are God’s principles found in the Bible. How can family conversations help you to keep God at the center of your home and lives? What’s likely to happen if you never bring the Bible into your conversations?
- Explain the “discovery principle” in your own words. Do you agree that this principle is important for learning? Why or why not?
- Explain “ownership” in your own words. Do you agree that this principle is important? Teens, what happens if you don’t really own something in your life?
- What are some topics or series you’d like to talk about as a family?
- What are your long-term hopes/desires for having family conversations? What steps do you need to take to make those hopes/desires into realities?
- Is there a step you need to take based on today’s topic?
