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Written by Larry Greider
The challenge for the next generation is to build an active, creative, successful life rather than passively living the lives of others.
I remember the time when one of my sons decided he was going to start his own personal chimney sweeping business. Where he got the idea, I really can’t remember. He asked to use our utility trailer and outfitted it with the old vacuum cleaner in the garage and various brooms, ladders, etc.
He invested his allowance money into some extension poles and brushes to feed down the chimney from the roof. Loaded with homemade signs and a sales pitch, he asked me to drop him off in a nearby neighborhood. He wasn’t old enough for a driver’s license, so he needed my help to transport his gear.
A few hours later I received a call to come and pick him up. Black chimney soot can change the way you look at dirt. After a few questions to be sure this creature was indeed my son, I covered the seat in my car and hauled the trailer and my young entrepreneur to the shower, waiting to hear if he had found his profession.
Today, he has his own enterprise and also works as a contractor for the U.S. government, among other pursuits. I’ve always been glad my children had interests in trying different things in their early life.
Ready for action
Being supportive parents and providing opportunities for your children to test their aptitudes, creativity and interests are very important. But the major key, from my point of view, is to encourage your children to seek life and its various opportunities rather than to become absorbed in the passive world of TV, video games and/or excuses fed by lack of ambition, low self-esteem or negativity.
If there is anything I’ve learned in working with teens—both mine and many others as a church pastor and youth leader—it’s the importance of creating an environment for them to succeed.
The book of Proverbs has a lot of good advice motivating us to avoid being couch potatoes and instead to be active:
- “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep—so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man” (Proverbs 6:10-11).
- “The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich” (Proverbs 13:4).
- “The lazy man will not plow because of winter; he will beg during harvest and have nothing” (Proverbs 20:4).
Here are some ideas to help motivate your children:
- Encourage creativity and listen to their ideas, no matter how undeveloped they may be.
- Assign some household chores.
- Give an allowance but with tasks assigned—for example, take out the trash, walk the dog, clean your room, make the bed, put dirty clothes in the laundry room, help with the dishes.
Along with the chores, which are often seen as something that prisoners have to do while being locked up, how about some incentive projects?
- Coinvest (assuming they have an allowance or some way to make money) in a project. This could be to establish a hobby, many of which grow into lifelong loves and occupations.
- Save for some travel—a trip to see a sports team or a field trip to explore some interest.
The problem of passivity
Teens who don’t have an active life with real people, especially their parents, can be drawn so easily into the artificial world of television, video games, etc. This can create passivity and depression.
Consider the results of this study:
“The more than 4,100 adolescents in the study were first asked in 1995 about the number of hours they had spent the previous week watching television or videocassettes, playing computer games, or listening to the radio. They reported an average daily exposure of about 5.7 hours, including 2.3 hours of television viewing.
“Seven years later, at an average age of almost 22, 308 (7.4 percent) of the young people had developed symptoms consistent with depression. The incidence of those symptoms was directly related with the number of hours of exposure to television and other electronic media reported at the start of the study, the researchers noted” (Ed Edelson, “Teen TV Time Tied to Adult Depression”).
As parents, we want our children to be active and to seek a life of creativity and fulfillment. We don’t want them to suffer from depression.
The first takes effort, while the other is a byproduct of doing nothing and allowing this modern world to suffocate creativity and hijack a promising future from our greatest gift—our children.
Larry Greider is a pastor in northern Florida, a father of four and a grandfather of six who has spent decades working with youth.
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