Homework, parent/teacher meetings, football games, and choir programs are the agenda for the next 10 months! School is here and buying a composition notebook is like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack, because everybody else got to them first!
But I just want to encourage you to let your teen know that this school year is going to be a good one! Now I know some of you groan as I say this, but just think how your teen feels if you are dreading it! They are the ones that deal with the homework, and the teachers, and the other students!
They need us to encourage them! They need to know that they aren’t alone in this. I know it’s hard to watch your teen struggle in school or with friends. It kind of comes down to the same way our God “parents” us.
When we mess up, we know He will give us grace. Even when we are in the midst of a consequence that we created because of a choice we made, we know He will never leave us or forsake us. We know He wants us to succeed!
Do our teens know that about us?
Sit down with them before this school year ever begins and tell them. Tell them that if they get a bad grade you will be there to help them succeed the next time. Tell them that if they have a teacher that they don’t get along with that you will be willing to step in and talk with that teacher. Tell them that you will give them mercy and grace because you love them.
For some of us, school brings back some serious nausea. It just wasn’t always a good or happy time. Maybe, just maybe, we can help change that for our teens.