Freedom

As students move from dependence to independence, freedom plays an enormous role. Check out the three groups listed below and their unique challenge with freedom:

• STUDENTS: ‘Freedom is cocaine to a teenager. It’s intoxicating. It’s addictive. And it is often their biggest motivator’ – For Parents Only (Feldhahn/Rice) Students may appear to be rebelling but there is reason beneath it. Freedom.

• PARENTS: ‘Freedom to choose poorly is necessary to learn to choose well’ – Boundaries with Teens (Townsend). Parents therefore must grant the freedom to choose but do so within a well-marked pathway of consequence.

• YOUTHWORKERS: Student behavior within the freedom range often becomes the presenting issue that enables caregivers to minister. Our growing relationships with students often centers on their choices and behavioral struggles.