Hi parents!
We hope that your Christmas and New Year's were a great time and you are still enjoying the break with your student! I know this break for our team and volunteers is always a good rest and breath of fresh air in the middle of the school year because we will be hitting it hard in the next few months before summer.
Here are a few things you need to know!
We just wanted to give you some notice that we will not be having any CCV Students service the week of Christmas and New Years. We know that family time is important and we want to honor that in this season.
We will resume service on January 9th!
Kingdom workers is a series in which we are talking about how we are called to be kingdom workers in our everyday lives. We are called to serve God and to serve others and this is how people will know we are disciples of Jesus.
In this series, we will be giving all of our students an opportunity to sign up and serve somewhere in our church. We will be highlighting different ministries and giving students a chance to step out, to serve and to lead.
At CCV we believe in having ONE LIFE. A ONE LIFE is a person we as believers are intentionally investing in, being involved with, reaching out to who do not know Jesus in order to show them who and what Jesus is all about. One Nights are perfect opportunities for our students to invite their ONE LIFE to church for a service and fun event afterward. We present the Gospel and pray for students to respond to it and then have a big party after to celebrate.
For this One Night we are having our very own Valley Worship team lead our students in worship and then we will have a big blacklight/neon dance party in the worship center with DJ, dance crews and free food. These are nights in which a ton of students who do not normally come to church will come see what CCV Students are all about.
You can be praying for our team as we prepare for this night! We are so excited!
We have over 200 students signed up for and in community groups this year. That is incredible. We believe we are not supposed to do life alone but together. Community groups dive into the Bible and provide growth spiritually and in a community. It's one of the most important things we offer at CCV Students.
If your student is not involved in one yet, we hope they can be in this new year. Registration is open and we know sometimes schedules change with either school, sports or work, but we hope to see more and more students take the next step in their faith by signing up to be in a group for the rest of this school year. They only go until May and it could be a game changer for your student.
You can go register at ccvsocal.com/students
If you have been around CCV for a while, you know summer camp is the biggest and the best thing we do all year long! It has the potential to change your student's life and we have seen it over and over.
If you can have your student only do ONE thing with us this year, get them to summer camp.
We wanted to share with you the dates so you can begin planning accordingly.
Sign-ups begin January 30th for early bird prices of $299.
As a parenting author, I've seen hundreds of parenting books and read countless articles. Often, they are echoing the same principles. I'm not knocking it... I've written numerous articles about the biggies that parents often neglect, like spending more time with your kids. But here are 3 tips you don't typically hear:
1. Wanna be a good dad? Then be a good husband first.
Want your kids to feel safe, loved and valued? Then work on your marriage. We're seeing more research emerging about one of the best predictors of cognitive success being emotional stability of the home environment. Bioengineering expert Dr. John Medina said it like this, "Do you want to know how to get your kid into Harvard? Go home and love your wife."
It's this simple. When our kids are young, they are searching for clues in their home to see if they are safe. "Children look to their parents and the relationship they have with each other to assess whether that's true or not," Medina says.
2. No Rules by 17 1/2
Most people would agree toddlers need a lot of guidance. If your 2-year-old starts heading for the road when a semi-truck is coming... not many dads would say, "Leave him be. He'll learn!" At the opposite end of the spectrum, everyone knows when our teens turn 18, they can legally move out and do whatever they want. The tricky part for parents is that time in between. How much guidance and control do we assert, especially in those teenage years?
The answer is "a segue." Start with heavy guidance and slowly segue towards less control, with a goal of "no rules by 17 1/2." Sure, you could wait until 18... but why? Why not have them totally free while still under the safety of your shadow?
I tried this principle with my oldest daughter, starting with realistic guardrails, then giving more trust over the years, and eventually parenting our 17-year-old like an 18-year-old. She is 18-years-old and on her own now... and it's really no big deal. She's been making decisions for a while now.
3. Real Life Reality Shows
Parents are always looking for teaching moments. When real life hardships appear, don't be scared to talk about what you experienced. If your sister is getting a divorce, ask your teenagers what they think. What can they learn from the situation?
Real life isn't always a huge crisis. Yesterday I was driving down the road and came upon a lady trying to back her boat into a driveway... and it became quickly and painfully obvious she didn't know how to back a trailer. Cars began lining up and honking. I pulled over, walked over to her with a smile and asked, "Would you like some help?" She happily got out of the car and let me take a crack at it. Moments like these are fun to dialogue about with your kids. Don't lecture, just ask questions: "Why do you think people were so upset with her?" "How should people respond when they see someone struggling like that?" "What are ways we can show love to people in stressful situations?" "How could you help someone in need?"
Look for these real life discussion moments, or even watch entertainment together that springboards discussion about real life.
When you think of today's teens you might assume that they all belong to the Millennial generation. But while Millennials will continue to influence culture for decades to come, if you are now raising teens, it's likely that they belong to Generation Z, a new and emerging generation of teenagers.
Even though research into Gen Z is in its infancy, two things are consistently agreed upon by students of culture: 1) Gen Z teens are now on the scene, and 2) they, like all previous generations, will carve out their own unique characteristics and have their own distinctive values, attitudes and behaviors.
Researchers have started turning the lens of examination on Gen Z. One recent study by Northeastern University compiled information obtained from surveys of over 1,000 teens 16-19, and this study may be one of the first to attempt to build our understanding of this new generation.
Here are some characteristics of today's teens that were obtained through the study:
- Today's teens are concerned about the costs of going to college and the debt that is often part of the college experience.
- Two in three fear they might not be able to find a job after college.
- Four in ten expect to be self-employed during their adult career.
- More than half believe that anyone should have a right to become a U.S. citizen no matter how they enter the country.
- Half receive their news online. Only two in ten get news from watching television.
- While technology is simply a part of everyday life for teens, two in three (69%) prefer to interact with friends in-person over interacting online, with only 15% preferring online.
- 70% would not use electronic methods (online, phones, texting, etc.) to ask someone out on a date.
Questions for Parents:
1. If your teen is planning on attending college, how can you help prepare her/him to deal with the financial aspects?
2. If your teen expresses concern about accumulating significant debt to attend college, how can you help her/him think through alternatives to amassing debt?
3. How does your teen view today's significant social issues like immigration?
4. What points of tension might you experience with your teen based on their views of these social issues?
5. Does your teen prefer to connect with friends online or in-person? Why?
6. How can you encourage your teen toward more in-person interaction with their friends?
7. How can you influence your teen toward better integration between life issues and their faith?