05/08/08 09:58
I
participated in a workshop this week on "Pop Culture
Issues with Teens", presented by Officer Paul LeBron
of the Long Beach Police Department. His goal was to
have the participants "wake up," and what an
eye-opener! I was particularly surprised about the
specific internet language that our kids are exposed
to. Officer LeBron recommended googling text
dictionary, and I will. This falls along the lines of
knowing what our teens are into. Officer LeBron also
talked about the "noise" or the interference that
gets in the way of our teens hearing us. From an
early age many of our teens have been exposed to the
media. There are competing messages in the media that
undermine our values at times. What conversations are
they having on MySpace? What images are they seeing
on Playstation? What music lyrics are they listening
to? What are their friends into? To parent our teens
effectively we have to open our eyes. Many of us are
so busy attending to our lives or we fall prey to the
notion that our teens can take care of themselves.
But, they need us. They need our attention, our
guidance, our understanding and our love. Let's
deconstruct the media's influence on our families.
This is pertinent if we are to create the kinds of
relationships that we want with our teens.