Ask God:

• For wisdom as you oversee your children’s media “diet.”
• To help your kids make good decisions about technology.
• To show you ways to use technology in positive, family-building ways.

Parenting Insights

In Children’s Ministry Magazine, online expert Tracy Carpenter explores some ways that technology is impacting young hearts and minds.

• Shifting relationships—Although kids still belong to social groups, the emphasis is no longer on face-to-face gatherings. Preteens, wired for relationships, now think in terms of their “audience” rather than their peer group.
• Trying on identities—Children express their developing personalities through social-networking sites and online role-playing. Preteens, emulating “cool,” may try to outdo one another with suggestive images.
• Providing “TMI”—Young people still forming judgment and boundaries are sharing too much private information in very public ways.