This weekend we’ll be pushing our clocks forward an hour, and that means Spring Break is right around the corner. Woohoo! Someone should tell the daffodils and the chives in my garden that they shouldn’t be popping up yet! They were a little anxious. The front of our neighborhood is lined with Bradford Pear trees in full bloom. I think it’s safe to count the days to Spring Break! 
Having teenagers or college students gives a whole new meaning to the words “Spring Break.” The teen years are unique in every culture. National Geographic magazine’s cover story in October 2011 was all about the science of the teenage brain, because people around the world would love to know the mysteries of this wonderful and difficult time of life. I for one wouldn’t want to relive my teen years, though … you? The National Geographic article rightly says that, “Culture clearly shapes adolescence .. yet culture does not create adolescence” (p. 55).
Ecclesiastes speaks wise words to those navigating these years, saying, “Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment” (Eccl. 11:9).
That’s where the challenge comes in for young adults, learning that choices determine consequences. Which takes us back to Spring Break …
I want to invite you over to the Mom Initiative today, where I’m posting about Parenting Teens Thru Spring Break. Even if your teens aren’t headed to Disney or Daytona for a Spring Break break (and they’re in good company with my 2 kiddos), you’ll be encouraged by these ideas for how to steer our young people through the discoveries, the dangers, and the deficits of the wonderful-awful teen years.
Read Parenting Teens Thru Spring Break here.
