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Raising Digital Natives: Discipling Gen Alpha · Equipped for Impact

0:07
Nate: Welcome to Equipped for Impact, the podcast designed to assist Christian parents, leaders and educators to raise up the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence the world.
0:19
Nate: For Christ, we're your hosts.
0:20
Nate: I'm Nate and I'm Luis, so let's get started.
0:24
Nate: Today, we are focusing on Generation Alpha, and so you have heard us talk a lot about the different generations.
0:33
Nate: Luis, you and I are both.
0:34
Nate: What generation we?
0:35
Luis: are millennials.
0:36
Nate: We are millennials, that is correct.
0:38
Nate: We're millennials.
0:38
Nate: After the millennials comes Gen.
0:40
Luis: Z.
0:41
Luis: Yeah, you know, actually there's a new thing that I've been reading about.
0:44
Luis: I may actually be called an X-annual because I was born in the 80s and apparently millennials in the 80s versus millennials in the 90s are different, and so so you just wanted to be special with your own name X-annuals, X-annuals.
0:59
Nate: Okay, so we'll talk a little bit about this.
1:03
Nate: We're getting ahead of ourselves.
1:04
Nate: We're just jumping right in today, but it's the Gen Alpha is who we're talking about today.
1:10
Nate: So this is the group, that is, primarily the students that are in our school.
1:15
Nate: So, Louis, we work in a school.
1:17
Nate: This would be kids born between ages, or born between 2010 and the mid-2030s, apparently, is when they're going to cut it off.
1:27
Nate: The people that make these decisions.
1:28
Nate: Who decides?
1:29
Nate: So, actually, this is fun.
1:30
Nate: We're already on a rabbit trail and we haven't got into the main topic.
1:36
Nate: So I actually found out that the people that name and do all the research on these generations is actually marketers.
1:42
Nate: So it's because the marketing people are the ones that want to figure out how can we best market to the people in each category.
1:51
Nate: So they're looking at the age brackets.
1:53
Nate: They're the ones that kind of are like oh well, millennials are thinking this way, so this would be people in their now millennials would be in their you know mid 30s, up into their 40s, and so how are we going to market to these people?
2:08
Nate: They've got kids, they've got you know.
2:09
Nate: They're buying houses, stuff like that you're going to market to them, different than you're going to market to kids that are school aged children today.
2:16
Nate: So so that was a fun fact, that was for free.
2:18
Nate: But but today, for those of you listening, we're taking that kind of some of this idea of Generation Alpha, which would be, like we said, born 2010 to.
2:28
Nate: It's still kids being born right now, today.
2:31
Nate: Right now, as we're talking, they would still, according to this data, would be in Generation Alpha.
2:37
Nate: So, you know, we're going to jump really into this idea from a biblical perspective, right, and talk about how can we disciple Gen Alpha and Luis.
2:49
Nate: We're kind of pulling from a resource that you're going to recommend, so how about you just jump in with that one?
2:54
Luis: Yeah, so, parents, you've heard us talk before about accessorg and it's a great resource that you can use for a lot of different things, but one of the things that they do is they put out a weekly newsletter, which is really helpful on like what's going on in that week.
3:10
Luis: But they also put out different guides, and so they put out a guide called A Parent's Guide to Gen Alpha and we're going to link to it in the show notes and you're going to hear us cite it throughout the episode.
3:20
Luis: But again, if you want to get your hands on it, accessorg it's a great website with a lot of resources.
3:31
Luis: Now, let me be clear that it's not a full endorsement, because I haven't read every one of their articles and so, obviously, with everything, use your discernment, as a parent, but there are some really good good stuff.
3:39
Nate: Yeah, that that email is called the culture translator that they put out and it's just another place where you can go.
3:46
Nate: And they're wrestling through the issues too, right, and they've even said sometimes they'll post things or email things and then come back and be like, oh, we got that wrong, here's what we're saying.
3:56
Nate: So at least they are thinking through it from a biblical perspective and they're humble about it, from what I've seen from a biblical perspective, and they're humble about it, from what I've seen.
4:09
Luis: So, as we talk about Gen Alpha, did you know that most members of Generation Alpha had their picture posted online before they could walk or talk?
4:14
Luis: Wow, and so they've never known a world or a life without streaming.
4:19
Luis: They've never known a world without apps and screens and, according to Access, they are the most technologically immersed, socially connected and formally educated generation in history, or they will be once they kind of achieve their mature Yep, yep man and that's crazy.
4:38
Nate: But you know, with that uh also come things like they're the most spiritually at risk if we as parents and leaders don't rise to the challenge, right, if we just let them we've said before on this podcast if we let them be discipled by those screens, the things they see online, you know they're going to be at risk spiritually.
5:00
Nate: So today we're going to help you and think through this ourselves how to understand this generation, the risks they face and the real opportunities we have to disciple them intentionally.
5:11
Nate: So really, I guess we need to talk about what is the first thing we'll go through who is Gen Alpha and what are kind of the characteristics that they have.
5:22
Luis: So, when we start with the basics, gen Alpha, like we've mentioned, are those kids who were born from 2010 through now.
5:30
Luis: So there was just right now there was probably another Gen Alpha kid born, and so these are going to include our elementary students and our middle school students.
5:40
Luis: So if you're the parent of an elementary or middle school student, then your home has a Gen Alpha.
5:47
Luis: And so youth pastors these are going to be your middle school groups.
5:52
Luis: Children's pastors these are your children's groups right now.
5:56
Nate: Yep, yep.
5:56
Nate: And, like you already pointed out, Luis, what did you call yourself?
6:01
Nate: An?
6:02
Luis: exsennial, exsennial, exsennial yeah.
6:04
Nate: You're just making up words, it's a fancy word, it is a fancy word.
6:07
Nate: So if you're going to make up a word, make it fancy people.
6:10
Nate: But that's something that I've noticed.
6:12
Nate: You see, kind of that trend, there's a blurring of the lines right between some of the generations.
6:19
Nate: So we see some of our middle school students kind of have a few characteristics of Gen X and then not Gen X, gen Z, gen Z, sorry, and then some of the younger Gen Z, so that would be our high school students also take on some Gen Alpha characteristics.
6:35
Nate: So this is still.
6:36
Nate: It's all really broad, it's not as clear-cut as we say.
6:38
Nate: But Access in their article they point out that this generation is being shaped by four major forces Digital technology.
6:46
Nate: Constant access to information, which kind of goes along with the digital technology.
6:52
Nate: Moral fluidity and global instability, which just turn on the news and you know exactly what they're talking about.
6:59
Nate: And so they're growing up in a world that moves fast and constantly redefines truth, and so that's just kind of the waters that they're swimming in, and so we're going to unpack some of these things together.
7:14
Luis: And that's what makes discipleship all the more urgent, right?
7:16
Luis: Because, like we've said, the culture is discipling them, and it's actually discipling them hour by hour.
7:22
Luis: I mean, what they read this morning could be very different than what they read this afternoon.
7:28
Luis: And so God is calling us, as parents, as leaders, to impress His Word on their hearts daily.
7:33
Luis: And that points us back to Deuteronomy 6, and that's what we talk about seeing Deuteronomy 6 in action.
7:41
Nate: Yep, yep, we've got to have that counter formation in the lives of students.
7:44
Nate: So really, with Gen Alpha there's kind of some things, there's about three things that define them as it would relate to our discipleship.
7:54
Nate: Okay, so the first one is what we already said.
7:56
Nate: They're digital natives.
7:58
Nate: You, Luis, you said they've probably had their picture posted online before they could walk and talk, right, in fact many of them probably had it.
8:04
Nate: Posted the day they were born.
8:05
Luis: Yeah, like from the hospital, yes, from the hospital.
8:07
Nate: Click it's up there, and you can blame us millennial parents for that.
8:11
Nate: Yes, because we're the ones making those posts.
8:14
Luis: In fact, I did that, nate, now that I'm thinking about it, because you are a millennial, I'm a millennial.
8:20
Luis: And so when one of my daughters was born, there was like a meme or you know, there was something that was like on the internet and it was like I'm getting ready to do this, but before I do that, let me take a selfie.
8:36
Luis: And so that was like a big thing when one of my daughters was born, and so, like I'm in the hospital and I posted it to social media.
8:39
Luis: I think I've deleted it from my Facebook because sometimes I regret what I posted on social media, but I went on there and I'm like daughter's getting ready to be born, but first let me take a selfie.
8:47
Luis: And so, like I'm like I'm in the mirror and I've got my.
8:52
Nate: I can just imagine your wife's like eye roll while you're doing that Sure.
8:57
Luis: And so I've got you know, like, like all of the gear that you're supposed to wear while you're in the delivery room.
9:02
Luis: And so there I am, like taking a picture of myself, you know, like my daughter's getting ready to be born.
9:06
Nate: But before that, let me take a selfie and so yeah, I mean I mean their pictures, probably posted online the day they were born yep, yep.
9:13
Nate: And so these people, gen alpha right they're, they're digital natives.
9:16
Nate: They started with, you know, devices in the classroom.
9:19
Nate: Maybe it was an ipad, maybe it was a chromebook, something like that, but it's there and they don't see technology as a tool, um, they see it as just the environment.
9:28
Nate: It's just part of its screens, it's what they do, you know, and it's just all around.
9:33
Nate: So, so, where you know, millennials which is going to be many of the parents that are listening to this, you know they, you know, had it as a tool.
9:40
Nate: It's an add on and accessory, it's something we use.
9:43
Nate: Um, these students, these children, gen Alpha just sees it as like it's there, screens are ubiquitous.
9:51
Nate: So that's the first thing.
9:52
Luis: And to take that to the next level, right, they are being shaped by the overabundance of information, like this is a generation that they can Google anything, and even really that's changing now, because with the advent of AI, right like now, you're not just Googling, but I mean you are logging on to chat GPT, you're going on Google Gemini, you know you can use it.
10:16
Nate: I mean Alexa, siri, right, it's available anytime and somebody's phone just lit up because you said that.
10:21
Nate: Hey, Alexa.
10:23
Luis: Yep, there you go, but that doesn't mean that they're wise, right?
10:26
Luis: So, even though they have this overabundance of information, it doesn't mean that they're getting it in the right way.
10:32
Luis: Yeah, so knowledge and wisdom are not the same thing Absolutely, and so they need guidance to interpret what they're seeing in their lives.
10:41
Nate: Yeah, they can look anything up immediately.
10:44
Nate: I think they're probably the group that turned Google into a verb.
10:49
Nate: Maybe that was your Gen Z, but that's the thing which can we address?
10:53
Nate: Another thing how many rabbit trails are we going on today?
10:55
Nate: But can we address another thing?
10:56
Nate: When you look something up, you search for it on Google.
10:59
Nate: Those prepositions you don't search up, you search for.
11:03
Nate: Have you heard anybody say that?
11:04
Luis: I don't know, but now I'm going to pay attention to it.
11:07
Nate: People.
11:07
Nate: They say it.
11:08
Nate: You talk to a Gen.
11:08
Nate: Alpha they're going to say I'm going to search that up, I'm going to search that up and I'm like you're combining look up and search for and they search up.
11:16
Nate: It bothers me.
11:17
Luis: I'm going to pay attention to what I say, but now everybody's going to say it.
11:20
Luis: That's why we just use AI.
11:21
Luis: Now right, that's right.
11:50
Nate: We, the AI, the nameless AI.
11:51
Nate: But that's the information, right, it's just there.
11:52
Nate: I'm just going to look for anything.
11:52
Nate: I want to look it up or search for it, either one and then it'll be right there Instant answers, which makes this third point even more.
11:55
Nate: They can, and ultimately, they're told by culture to look inward for their identity, like, um, there was a curriculum that we used here at the school and we had to kind of like, uh, navigate this one a little bit, because it had this whole lesson on, like, developing your personal brand.
12:05
Nate: And some of the teachers in there are like, okay, well, like you, you don't have this identity that you just, like, are searching for and and discovering, or like inventing, right, it's, god created you in his image, and so we, we had to kind of work through that as teachers.
12:20
Nate: Uh, and, and ultimately that's what we we as we're discipling our children want them to do Like, don't look inward for your identity, right, you look upward.
12:29
Nate: And who does God say you are?
12:32
Nate: Who has God called you to be?
12:33
Nate: And it's a different.
12:35
Nate: You know orientation for where we look for our identity.
12:38
Nate: But, culturally, right, they're just searching wherever and, ultimately, inside.
12:43
Luis: And here's where biblical worldview matters most.
12:46
Luis: Right, we have to help them understand that truth is not fluid.
12:50
Luis: We have to help them understand that truth is not fluid.
12:51
Luis: We have to help them understand that identity is not self-assigned.
12:55
Luis: And we have to help them understand that Christ offers them something that the culture never will right Certainty, hope, belonging, salvation.
13:03
Luis: That's what they need to understand and that's why a biblical worldview is so important, absolutely.
13:11
Nate: And so, with these things, right, we talk about being digital natives and the overabundance of information and just kind of like searching for that hope and that belonging, it can bring several challenges, like the biggest thing that Access pulls out in their guide here is the mental health things.
13:31
Nate: Like you just turn on the news and you see probably at least one segment about some type of new study and new thing about mental health and the the rising rates of anxiety and depression amongst gen alpha specifically.
13:46
Nate: Right, it's, it's all youth and I think it's across the board.
13:49
Nate: Um, we, we mentioned the book, um, uh, anxious generation, which.
13:53
Nate: Have you picked that up yet?
13:54
Luis: I haven't, but I'm going to because since, since we've been working on this, I've had three different people mention to me that it is a book I need to read, and so I haven't read it yet, but it is on my summer to read list, which is funny because I think I recommended it to a person and then they read it and they forgot that I recommended it, and so then they recommended it back to me, which I love.
14:12
Nate: That.
14:13
Nate: You know, books are awesome.
14:14
Nate: But anyway, the anxious generation, right, that's its whole point is that, you know, the move towards the digital environment and a screen based childhood has just increased these mental health issues, and so, you know, especially coming out of COVID, right?
14:29
Nate: So you think it's the current fifth graders, right, it was their kindergarten year.
14:34
Nate: They got cut short because of COVID, and then the current fourth graders started school in masks, you know.
14:42
Nate: And so it's that group of Gen Alpha.
14:45
Nate: It was like they really got hit hard with COVID and then the move to online learning environments and all of that, so that's a big challenge for them.
14:55
Luis: And think about this year's crop of kindergartners and the ones that are getting ready to start kindergarten.
15:00
Luis: Yeah, like their first two years of life were spent surrounded by people who were wearing masks.
15:06
Nate: Yeah, right.
15:07
Luis: And so, everywhere you went, people were wearing masks, and so, not figuratively, no, yeah, literally were wearing masks, yeah, right.
15:11
Luis: And so everywhere you went, people were wearing masks, and so, um, not figuratively no, yeah, literally, literally wearing masks or even, like some people, were just staying at home.
15:16
Luis: So they were isolated.
15:17
Luis: They were isolated from from people, and so, uh.
15:20
Luis: Another issue that access highlights is moral confusion, and so gen alpha is exposed to values that often contradict Scripture, especially regarding sexuality, gender and truth.
15:36
Luis: I had the privilege several years ago to listen to Ben Shetler in person, and he was talking about how the issues that we're seeing today in Gen Alpha regarding sexuality, gender and those issues those were issues that were being promoted in the 90s in the academic world, so universities were pushing these ideas, and so, parents.
16:01
Luis: It's important to not shy away from these hard topics, because your kids are seeing them, your elementary student is hearing about it, and so equip them early with a biblical foundation and a safe space to ask questions, because if they can't talk to you about it, who are they going to talk to?
16:20
Nate: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I think we mentioned that right here with the moral confusion and kind of how we respond.
16:27
Nate: We didn't touch on that with the mental health.
16:29
Nate: We just said that it's a thing.
16:30
Nate: Yeah, so kind of this we respond.
16:32
Luis: We didn't touch on that with the mental health, we just said that it's a thing, yeah, yeah.
16:34
Nate: So kind of this is real life.
16:35
Nate: Guys, let's go back, let's, let's talk about that.
16:37
Nate: So how do you deal with that?
16:38
Nate: You're like you've got a gen alpha who's you know, struggling with anxiety, nervousness, depression, all that stuff.
16:43
Nate: How, what should, how should we respond in that situation?
16:45
Luis: I think one of the ways is just to normalize the conversation around emotions and have real conversations about what emotions really are.
16:54
Luis: Yeah Right, one of my favorite movies that I've seen I watched it when I was girls is the movie inside out, like it's really cool to see how the emotions are playing out and how they all interact.
17:05
Luis: But obviously that's fantasy, that that's fiction.
17:08
Luis: But if we're not careful sometimes we treat our emotions that way, right?
17:11
Nate: Yeah, like it's a little person inside my head.
17:14
Luis: Yes, and so we let our emotions dictate how we feel.
17:17
Luis: We let the emotions guide what's happening in our lives, and so I think having normal conversations about emotions, but then equipping our children to see their identity in Christ, and so my identity is found in Christ, not in my followers, not in how I feel, it's not found in a filter on Snapchat, but it is who am I and who has God made me to be.
17:42
Nate: Yeah, yeah, yeah, not to turn this into an episode on mental health or emotions or anything but one of the great explanations I heard it was actually a sermon illustration talking about emotions, and you know it was talking about how emotions are a gift.
17:59
Nate: Right, god gave us emotions and the illustration was of a mirror.
18:01
Nate: Right, the emotions are a mirror that are reflecting your desires, right?
18:06
Nate: And so sometimes we, we double down on the fact of how am I feeling and not why am I feeling?
18:14
Nate: Right, it's like I'm sad.
18:16
Nate: Okay, you're sad, right, but why?
18:18
Nate: Well, it's probably because you didn't get something you wanted, right?
18:22
Nate: Um, I'm sad because so-and-so got the prize or got first place.
18:27
Nate: I'm sad because my sister took my toy.
18:30
Nate: You know, I'm mad because my sister took my toy.
18:33
Nate: Whatever it happens to be right, it's a, it's a mirror looking at your emotions.
18:37
Nate: And so if you can disconnect for a second and we, as parents, like, talk our kids through that, it's like, okay, it's okay that you're feeling that way, right, but we're not going to let our emotions control us.
18:47
Nate: We're going to use it like it's designed.
18:49
Nate: It's the mirror helping me be a little more self-aware and be like okay, well, why do I feel this way.
18:54
Nate: Well, I feel this way because my friends are mad at me and I feel left out.
18:57
Nate: You know different things like that.
18:59
Nate: You can ask those questions as you're walking through that idea.
19:03
Luis: I think we just identified what one of our future episodes is going to have to be Mental health.
19:08
Nate: There you go, just the navigating of emotions, yep, yep.
19:11
Luis: So access points out mental health, more confusion.
19:14
Luis: And then the third one that they point out is a disconnection from real relationships.
19:19
Luis: Yep, they're connected digitally, but often they are isolated relationally.
19:25
Luis: Have you tried to have a conversation with a middle schooler or an elementary student and get them to just look you face to face, right, like they're not used to that?
19:35
Luis: It is, it is, it is an abnormal function for them, and so the way we need to respond to that, parents is, is by prioritizing face to face time.
19:46
Luis: Yep, we've talked about it before in other episodes Right Meals, car rides, bedtime.
19:50
Nate: As a two-parter.
19:51
Nate: Go back and look at or listen to the.
19:53
Nate: What is it?
19:53
Nate: Navigating a Digital World.
19:55
Nate: It's a two-parter.
19:56
Luis: Let me give you something really practical.
19:58
Luis: If your kid is not ordering their own food at a restaurant, you are setting them up for failure.
20:05
Nate: Make them order their own food Does my five-year-old need to order her own food.
20:08
Nate: She should, yeah, she should, five at five, at five, yeah.
20:11
Luis: Now, obviously you got to guide her right.
20:13
Luis: So you look at the menu.
20:15
Nate: I'll take the banana split, please.
20:18
Nate: The whole thing.
20:19
Luis: And so, but let them order and let them have a conversation with the server, or let them have a conversation with the person.
20:25
Luis: And so in our home, we have prioritized our kids ordering their own food from the time that they were little, and so they've been ordering foods from the time that they were five-year-old off the kids menu.
20:35
Luis: Now we walk them through it, right, yeah, but they're the ones who have the conversation, and when it comes time, like if they need more drink or they need something, you know that they need to summon the server, for I'm not the one doing it, they're the ones, because I'm not the one who needs more water or needs more tea, they are.
20:52
Nate: And so prioritize the way for them to speak up, to have conversations, to connect with people that's really good and even suffer the consequences for the choices that they make when they speak up.
21:04
Nate: That's which, anyway, we're getting off track here.
21:06
Nate: But and my parents let me order it was a huge banana split and they let me do it and eat the whole thing and suffer the consequences afterwards, right, as an eight-year-old, eating a whole banana split.
21:26
Nate: Have you done it since then?
21:26
Nate: Yes, I have.
21:27
Nate: You have, I have.
21:29
Luis: So you didn't learn your lesson.
21:30
Nate: Well, I'm bigger now and I can stomach a whole banana split.
21:34
Nate: Ah, okay.
21:35
Nate: But not as much because I'm also lactose intolerant now, so that's a thing you may be lactose intolerant because you ordered a banana split.
21:43
Luis: Maybe cause and effect here.
21:46
Nate: So, but that's good and that that goes to.
21:48
Nate: I mean, I think our next episode is going to be talking about responsibility, which that goes into it.
21:51
Nate: Right, these things go hand in hand because it as they're developing those real relationships, right.
21:57
Nate: Like we've talked about having those times away from phones.
22:00
Nate: Like you know, we don't let our students here take their phones on field trips most field trips and so it's like, hey, you've got to go out there and figure out how to talk to another human being in the face, and the digital connection is great, but it's a supplement for eyeball to eyeball having those conversations.
22:21
Nate: So prioritize that and help them, because that's going to go a long way in helping them overcome some of these relational challenges.
22:30
Luis: And so let's be clear about this right Discipling generation alpha, that gen alpha.
22:35
Luis: It's going to take time, it's going to take prayer, it's going to take patience, but this generation, it's not lost.
22:46
Luis: And so they're not too far gone, and the truth is that they're ready and they're watching us as their parents, yep so.
22:49
Nate: So let's go into some practical tools.
22:51
Nate: Okay, how can you disciple Gen Alpha?
22:54
Nate: What are things we can do this week?
22:57
Nate: And we've kind of got five-ish.
23:00
Nate: Okay, it's not going to be a complete list here, but about five things you know, just based on this guide and some of the experiences we've had as parents and youth pastors and all of that.
23:09
Nate: I think the first thing we've said a lot is ask open-ended questions, right, not the.
23:16
Nate: You know one answer.
23:17
Nate: You know one word answers that type of thing.
23:18
Nate: But open-ended questions, right, like the.
23:19
Nate: You know one answer.
23:19
Nate: You know one word answers that type of thing.
23:19
Nate: But open-ended questions, right, like what do you think that means?
23:22
Nate: What does the Bible say about that?
23:24
Nate: You know, that's where you're riding in the car and you're listening to music together and you turn down the radio and say, hey, this just said.
23:31
Nate: You know X, y, z.
23:32
Nate: What does the Bible say about that?
23:34
Nate: And those types of open-ended get them thinking and kind of opening up, and then you just listen and see where they are and where you might need to nudge them one direction or another.
23:45
Luis: And we're gonna go through these quickly because I know in some of them we've talked about them before.
23:49
Luis: Right, but set tech boundaries right.
23:51
Luis: Don't just manage screen time, but disciple through it and watch and talk about content together.
23:57
Luis: So if there's a TV show that your kid wants to watch, watch it with them, have a conversation.
24:02
Nate: Yep, Yep.
24:02
Nate: Number three would be model resilience, and I think this is huge because we suffer those of us that are not Gen Alpha, suffer from a lot of these same things because we're exposed to the same influences that are developing it within Gen Alpha.
24:16
Nate: So you know, it's the.
24:17
Nate: You know how do you, as a Christian, respond when, when there's challenges?
24:21
Nate: You know, are you responding with faith or are you responding with fear?
24:24
Nate: When we talk about the mental health stuff, like that's, that's big, Like, are you yourself allowing your emotions to drive you or are you using them, like that mirror, to to be a little reflective of you know?
24:37
Nate: Okay, what is this telling me?
24:38
Nate: Like model being sad, being angry, being whatever emotion you want to fill in the blank with, but, you know, doing it in a righteous, a godly way of like I'm sad, this makes me sad, but you know what?
24:53
Nate: I'm going to choose a certain direction based on God's word, instead of letting my feelings drive my actions.
25:01
Luis: That's really good.
25:01
Luis: We should probably do an episode on resilience too.
25:03
Luis: Maybe we connect that to the responsibility episode yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:07
Nate: Responsibility and resilience, because they go hand in hand.
25:09
Luis: They do, they do and another one would be cultivate wonder right.
25:12
Luis: So Gen Alpha is naturally curious, and so they are asking questions, they are exploring.
25:19
Nate: They want to understand that identity right.
25:20
Nate: They're looking for their identity.
25:21
Luis: And that's good.
25:22
Luis: And so point that curiosity towards creation, point it towards Scripture, point it to the character of God.
25:29
Luis: Let them be amazed at what God has done in this world.
25:35
Luis: My family and I, we love to go to the mountains, and so one of the things that we love to do is just hike the trails, go to the waterfalls, and so a lot of times we have conversations about those, and I'll say things to my girls like man, I wonder what this would have looked like 100 years ago or 200 years ago or 1,000 years ago, before people were here.
25:53
Luis: And we just cultivate that wonder of like man.
25:56
Luis: What God has done here is absolutely amazing.
25:59
Nate: Yeah, and just using those gifts, right, if they're curious and they're excited about a certain activity or a skill that they're developing, like, encourage that, don't go overboard, but encourage their curiosity and their wonder of how God made them.
26:14
Nate: And I think that's our last thing right, anchor their identity in Christ.
26:18
Nate: Right, remind them daily.
26:19
Nate: They're made by God, loved by God and called to live for Him in His glory, and that's ultimately where they find their identity.
26:29
Luis: And that last one's probably the most important one, right?
26:31
Luis: Because if we don't define identity for them through God's Word, our culture is going to, it's going to identify it for them, and the results are going to be confusion.
26:40
Luis: It's not going to be clarity, right?
26:41
Luis: The Bible is very clear about who we are in God, but the world clouds that and if we don't help them understand that, then there's going to be confusion.
26:50
Luis: Yep.
26:51
Nate: Yep, and I think I just thought of a sixth one, have breakfast for dinner as often as necessary, you know.
26:59
Luis: I don't even know what to say.
27:02
Nate: If you guys missed that one, go back to episode 11.
27:04
Nate: Internally we've been calling that the breakfast for dinner episode.
27:09
Nate: So, anyway, no, but Axis reminds us, Gen Alpha will live longer, learn more and engage with more information than any generation before them.
27:19
Nate: But if they don't know why they believe what they believe, they'll be spiritually fragile, and I think that's a good challenge for us, right as we think about how we are raising spiritually resilient, wise children.
27:34
Nate: We can take some of these steps to help them move that direction.
27:39
Nate: So, Luis, any last thoughts or encouragements as we bring this episode to a close.
27:44
Luis: Well, number one is parents, go download A Parent's Guide to Gen Alpha, right?
27:49
Luis: Don't take our word for it.
27:50
Luis: I would encourage you, go find it.
27:52
Luis: It's going to be linked on the show notes and it's free, it's practical and it's got great discussion starters that you can use right away.
28:00
Luis: And if you've enjoyed listening to this topic of Gen Alpha, let us know, right, like we want to be able to get feedback from you, because we're here to help you, right?
28:09
Luis: We're here to help you raise kids who aren't just smart or successful, but who are spiritually grounded.
28:14
Luis: We want to help you to raise kids who love Jesus, who know the truth and are going to impact their world.
28:21
Nate: That's right, and so you can let us know at podcast at waynechristianorg, Let us know your thoughts, Let us know, you know, maybe some topics that came out of this that you're like ooh, I do want to hear more about that, whether it's the responsibility or the mental health or resilience or something else that's totally we haven't thought of.
28:38
Nate: We've had some great feedback from listeners that it's like well, we hadn't thought about that because we're just sitting here talking to each other and having fun.
28:46
Nate: But we want to be helpful to you guys.
28:49
Nate: So please email us podcast at WayneChristianorg and thank you for joining us today.
28:54
Nate: If you guys enjoyed this episode, share it with other parents who might find it helpful, and be sure to subscribe so you don't miss our next episode, which will be on helping your children build that responsibility.
29:06
Nate: So thanks for joining us today and until next time, keep leading the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence the world for Christ.