EMAIL 1
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Subject Line: Building Healthy Friendships
Dear Parents,
Let’s schedule a play date! That’s a phrase you have probably found yourself using at some point as your kids have continued to grow up. Have you ever paused to wonder why you work so hard to help them make friends with other kids? Maybe it’s because, deep down, you realize that the people whom your kids become friends with and those they surround themselves with will have a significant influence on the choices they make and will ultimately determine the direction and quality of their lives. So, you do whatever you can as a parent to help connect them with good potential friends because you want your kids to build healthy friendships. What you might not know is that as your kids get older, you still have the opportunity to influence and steer them toward healthy friendships; this will be true all along their journey to adulthood.
This month we are providing you with some excellent ideas, tools, resources, and, as always, a little extra encouragement that will help you start or take another step forward in an ongoing conversation with your kids about healthy friendships—what they look like and how to recognize the healthy from the unhealthy.
To watch this month’s Online Parenting Class video, click the link below.
[ INSERT LINK TO ONLINE PARENTING CLASS VIDEO ]
Hang in there and know that we are in this together! We are always here for you if you need us.
Praying with you and for you as you lead at home.
Your friend,
[INSERT LEADER’S SIGNATURE HERE]
EMAIL 2
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Subject Line: Good Friends: They Matter to Our Kids
Dear Parents,
As you think about the preferred future for your kids, there is one thing that will have the most significant impact when it comes to the path they will walk, the choices they will make, the direction their lives will go, and ultimately the quality of their lives. It’s their friends. I bet that you already know this to be true, but I’ll remind you just the same. The people whom your kids choose to be friends with, surround themselves with, and do life with will have a tremendous impact on the decisions they make, where they go in life, and how fulfilling their life will be. If we know that their choices in friends is going to have such a big impact on them, wouldn’t it make sense that we work really hard to help them figure out this part of life?
In this month’s blog article, you’ll learn some tools to help equip your child to recognize, value, and make good friends. Take a few minutes to check it out. You’ll be glad you did.
[ INSERT LINK TO M2P ONLINE PARENTING BLOG ARTICLE ]
And don’t forget to check out this month’s Online Parenting Class video, where we explain the importance of leaning in and paying attention to the friendships your kids are building. We will also share with you some ways that you can leverage your influence as a parent to help your kids better navigate this crucial area of life.
[ INSERT LINK TO ONLINE PARENTING CLASS VIDEO ]
Thank you for allowing us to partner with you as you lead your family. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
In this alongside you,
[INSERT LEADER’S SIGNATURE HERE]
M2P April KIDS Parent Video Script
“Building Healthy Friendships”
I remember when our son was in late elementary school, we had just moved to a new town, and we knew he was going to need some new friends. As we settled into a new school, new people, and a new routine, we started to meet families and get to know some other kids. There was this one group of boys who, you could tell, were kind of the “cool kids” of the elementary school (if there is such a thing). These kids were all athletes, like our son, and for a few years, I was kind of hoping that he would become a part of their crew. Well, he could never quite break in, and, if I’m honest, he didn’t even really try. Seeing where all of these kids are today, I’m actually really thankful that, when it comes to friendships, he went a different route. And the route he went started at church.
You see, during that season of life, we were getting really plugged in at our new church, and that became the place where he began to develop good, healthy, God-centered friendships that are still critical to him today, years later. As parents, we all want for our kids to build solid friendships that will help them grow, develop, and enjoy their childhood years. Part of what we need to do is pay attention to the friendships our kids are developing and do whatever we can to gently steer them into friendships that will be good for them. Deep down, I knew that the “cool kid” crew probably wasn’t the best group for my son to be a part of, but I really wanted him to have some good friends. When I saw him developing the types of friendships I really wanted him to have at church, I pushed him in that direction.
As parents, you have the opportunity to dial certain relationships in and other ones out. Now we can’t completely control who our kids are friends with, and I don’t think we should try. But we can put our kids in environments with people we want them grow closer to. Proximity matters, and with kids, proximity often matters most. Surround your kids with other kids you WANT them to build relationships with. Have families over, do special events together, make church on Sunday and church events a priority for your family. I promise you the leaders at your church want to create environments where kids can build solid, healthy relationships based around a relationship with God, and those are the kinds of friendships you want your kids to have.
Do your best to pay attention to the friendships your kids are building. As you are moving through life with your kids, listen for who they talk about and watch who they gravitate towards when in social situations. And then try to determine if the friendships they are developing are giving them life and building them up … or draining them and pulling them down. Part of what we want to do as parents is help our kids learn how to discern what friendships are good for them and what friendships are bad for them, even if they enjoy them. Years ago, I learned a phrase from Andy Stanley, and I started using it with my kids. I’ve used it so much that they know it and will often recite it back to me when we are having conversations about friendships. It says this: Your friends will determine the quality and direction of your life. Let me say it again: Your friends will determine the quality and direction of your life. As adults, we know this to be true. It’s really just another way to say what God says in Proverbs 13:20: “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.”
What if you started embedding both of those phrases into the hearts and minds of your kids. What if you helped them see that the company they keep and the friends they choose not only has an impact on their lives today but it has an impact on their lives for a long time to come.
Here’s the last thing I’ll say. As parents, we should be praying for our kids in so many ways, and one of the ways we can pray for them is in the area of friendships. Pray that your kids will build healthy relationships that will encourage them and build them up. Pray that they will have friends who share their faith, morals, and values. Pray that they can be growing in their relationship with God through their relationships with their friends. Pray that you can be discerning and wise as you seek to help them develop the friendships they are going to need as they grow and develop.
So, when it comes to the friendships your kids are building, remember that who they connect with and who they build friendships REALLY matters and, as their parent, you have the opportunity … and maybe even responsibility … to help them build healthy friendships that will give them what they need.