You cannot say you do not like working with children…
You cannot say you do not like working with children in the church. I said that I do not really like working with children because I do not have the skill set for kids, and I was scolded.
“How can you not like children!”
“You cannot say that, you are a minister!”
“Where is your soul?!”
“Children are precious and I just do not know how you could say that!”
A few days later I was in a conversation with several people and the topic turned to how horrible youth are in the church.
“They make a mess.”
“They are loud in church.”
“They do not respect their elders.”
“They feel entitled.”
“They don’t contribute to the life of the church.”
So I guess I am curious to know how these descriptors are any different from children? I would submit they do not. The only difference is it is okay to say “I do not like to work with youth” and it is not okay to say “I do not like to work with children.”
So if you are a child, you are wonderful.
If you are a youth, you are not.
If you are an adult, you must love children and leave working with youth to the “younger hired hands.”
This makes my head hurt.
Sad, Funny, Interesting, Addictive – kids playing video games
Photographer Robbie Cooper shows just how focused young video-game players can be.
I am not sure what to think about this video other than I find it to be quite a paradox of sad and interesting.
Research on the sexualization of girls
From the September/October 2008 Youth Worker Journal
“See Jane Deal with Her Body. How You Can Address the Sexualization of Today’s Girls”
• Mothers are competing with their daughters to look good or sexy.
• The efforts to help girls “stay pure” might be too focused on avoiding specific behaviors and not focused enough on a deeper transformation of hearts and attitudes toward sexuality.
• Sports are a double edge sword: they boost self esteem, but there is a lot of popular media overwhelming sexualizing women’s sports.
• Self esteem is directly linked to materialism: as self esteem falls, materialism sky rockets; and vise versa.
