Real Talk: Parent Guide | Ministry to Parents Kids

Whether you see the effects of it or not, your child is already feeling the impact of the busyness of life and the chaos of all the “noise” that’s constantly coming their way. This “Real Talk Parent’s Guide” is designed to help you facilitate an open and honest conversation with your child about the pace of life they (and the entire family) live. With this guide, you can be more intentional this month about carving out some time to have some real conversations, listening to your child’s perspective, and honestly evaluating whether your child (or your family as a whole) is in need of making some changes for everyone to move to a more sustainable rhythm.

Set aside a time to sit down as a family or one-on-one with your child and candidly discuss these questions:

What are some things you like about our family’s rhythm or pace of life? What are some things you dislike or think we need to consider changing?
When you look at your life and rhythm, do you feel like you are too busy? If you could change anything about your schedule, what would you change and why?
Do you feel like we are too busy as a family? If you could change anything about our family’s schedule (or any particular family member’s schedule), what would you change and why?
What is most important to you this first semester of school? What do you want to make sure you as an individual do or accomplish? What about us as a family?
Are there some things you feel that if you stopped doing, you’d have a healthier rhythm of life? What about me or any of the rest of our family?
On a scale of 1-10, how are you doing when it comes to making growing to become more like Jesus a part of your rhythm? What score would you give our family on that question? Where do you think spiritual growth fits into our rhythm (more than just going to church)?
How can you create more space for rest, space for God in our lives, and opportunities to grow in our relationship with Him? How can our family create more space for these things?

Conclude your conversation by praying together as a family and identifying 2-3 practical action steps for the next few months.

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