#Challenged: Equipping Families to Thrive in Today's Youth Culture (A Healthier Version of You)

While I contend that it is possible to raise children who do not succumb to societal woes, there appears to be few who escape societal moral dilemmas and ensuing consequences.Nearly 40% of all students are involved in cyber and/or face to face bullying as perpetrators, victims, or both. Half of all new drug users are under the age of 18. Nearly half of all high school age students reported having sex within the past three months, and nearly 5% reported having started sexual activity prior to the age of 13. Teen pregnancy rates are reported as declining, however many reports speak of teen births and do not account for abortions in their teen pregnancy statistics. Although abortion rates have declined as birth control use has increased, nearly 30% of all teen pregnancies still end in abortion. The suicide rate among Christians is the same as non-Christians, and every 100 minutes a teen takes their own life. Smart phones are now shared with babies who are just months old, and 80% of teens own them, creating a gateway for the onslaught of technology related challenges. These statistics are but a foreshadowing of the depth and breadth of the challenges of living in today's world, a world in which only 7% of all U.S. households are traditional family households. Parents, particularly Christian parents, are distressed when they find out their child is one of the statistics they read about; yet few are equipped to raise their children with awareness and ability to withstand all modern society entices them with. Parents will glean hard truths about the culture their kids are immersed in. This book is a tool that can be used by pastors and lay leaders when shepherding and equipping families in their churches with realities and best practice measures of grounding children in Biblical principles that will create prevention or minimize the impact of societal trends. It takes a hard look at the research from a wide array of sources and meld the findings into a conclusive work which will verify that it is possible to raise resilient children who, while they may struggle and experience occasional moral failings, will not succumb to the trends of society.

Author: Mel Tavares

Publisher: Independently published

Publication Date: Sep 30, 2019

Number of Pages: 103 pages

Language: English

Binding: Paperback

ISBN-10: 1695801431

ISBN-13: 9781695801431