What are our teens getting into these days? How can we keep up-to-date with their culture?
Young people are under enormous pressure from their peers to fit in and follow the hot trends promoted in media.
- Movies
- TV
- Music
- Games
- Apps
Trends come and go, but we can stay aware of kids’ culture.
The good folk at ChildrensMinistry.com are keeping on top of it all and doing the research for us. Their web page, Keeping Current, is frequently updated.
Illustrations for applying Bible principles
Having this information helps us understand the preteen culture, and so incorporate relevant themes into our teaching.
In this way we can give guidelines and principles so that the children can learn to see the dangers, if any, and make their own right choices about the media they engage in.
Knowing what they are interested in may also give specific illustrations for applying the Bible truth to real-life situations.
So, what is trending?
Keeping Current prefaces its list of current hot topics and activities with this statement:
These pages report, but don’t endorse or recommend, what’s hot with preteens.
In addition to listing the various media, and giving some details of the content, the writers give their take on the issues involved. Here is one example from the April 2018 listing.
A Wrinkle in Time – Movie
The Scoop Based on the classic book by Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time is a sci-fi family fantasy/adventure movie produced by Disney. In the story, a scientist disappears and is trapped by an evil energy. His son learns how to look for him in a fifth dimension by stepping across a wrinkle in time.
Our Take While this is a children’s story and rated PG, some children may find the content scary and confusing. Because of the spiritual content, we recommend you preview the movie and talk with kids about its themes and how they do or don’t align with what God says about good and evil.
So, why not visit Keeping Current and bookmark it to keep up to date with what pre-adolescents are engaging in?