Give him a chance to prove you right.īecause of how God created us, we all have the potential to lead, believe, imagine, love, care, relate, trust, reason and improve. Tell him he’s smart enough, strong enough and important enough to take on a new responsibility or make a big decision. You wanna shock a preteen? Treat him like he’s made in the image of God. Read More: A Dynamic View of God: Helping Kids Connect with God at Every Phase Impact Their Identity and Faith That He can overcome impossible odds to rebuild what is broken, bring stability, restore peace, resolve doubt, give hope, and redeem everyone-including themselves. The engineer inside needs to know that God can do anything. When it comes to helping these complex creatures understand who they are in Christ, you have to remember the middle schooler you don’t see. She longs for non-parental adult influence.He’s starting to view the world through the eyes of others.She wrestles with decisions big and small.He needs to talk about his feelings, even when his face says otherwise.He lies and argues more than ever before.He’s embarrassed easily and often by you.She’s happy one moment and crying the next.He’s growing like a weed and eating all of your groceries.What we’re talking about is a duality of sorts-the middle schooler you see and the middle schooler you don’t see. The next time you take in an all-star performance from a middle schooler-complete with tears, of course-consider this: behind those emotions is a brain hard at work analyzing, processing and planning the next move. With the right approach you can help preteens focus on things that really count. Of course you now know that middle school drama, like everything else, won’t matter in a few short years. Preteens are hanging onto the struggle bus for dear life. Forget trying to figure out who you are in Christ.
You feel like an adult but everyone treats you like a kid. You remember right? Greasy hair, frizzy hair, don’t care.