Parenting Under Pressureনমুনা

Parental Peer Pressure Our world is changing rapidly. Social media has given us the ability to exchange ideas faster than ever before. In the time that it once took to have a conversation with one person, we can now engage with multitudes. But connectivity comes with a price. For all of its benefits, social media has created an arena for peer pressure unlike any we have seen before. Our actions used to be judged by a handful of people in close proximity to us; now they are being judged by the masses. In this environment, it doesn’t take long to learn which topics are safe to discuss and which we should keep to ourselves. Post the wrong thing and you can quickly find yourself in the center of a storm of controversy. The cacophony of likes, swipes, shares, and comments all serve to muddle the truth and confuse our convictions. This is important for many reasons, but is especially important when it comes to parenting. If we are unsure of our beliefs, then we will be unable to teach them to our children. The good news is that God’s truth doesn’t change. He is not swayed by public opinion or the number of likes He gets. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If we embrace the truths found in His Word, then our lives will show consistency. This is crucial because our kids learn more from watching our behaviors than they do from listening to our words. If they see us behaving differently in different situations, they will learn that morality is flexible. If we attempt to hold them to a standard that we ourselves are not willing to adhere to, they will see Scripture as a source of confinement and control and not a source of freedom. It is what we show them that sticks. The smaller the world becomes, the more important it is to develop convictions which are rooted in the unchanging truth found in God’s Word. The more we saturate ourselves in Scripture, the easier it will be for us to resist peer pressure and live lives that reflect our true beliefs. Are you spending as much time reading God’s truth as you are the opinions found on social media? Ask God to show you His ways so you can model a life based on His truth to your children. To go deeper read, “Guiding Your Child Through Peer Pressure” on FamilyLife.com.