JONATHAN’S BLOG FROM THE SOURCE

Look Mom, no cuss words! It must be clean!

Jonathan Mckee — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:53:08 GMT

More and more I'm finding that many parents have no clue what content their kids are watching day to day.

"But I use CYBERPATROL and block out porn sites from our home computer!"

"But I block those movie channels on our cable!"

That's what they always say. Then I ask, "Do you have iTunes?… YouTube?… MTV?"

I admit... it's sad when we have to set up so many safeguards to protect our children. And I'm sure some parents over-react and over-protect… while others remain too lenient. I can’t provide you with an exact recipe of where that balance lies, but I can tell you that it starts with becoming aware.

Do you know what the most popular song on iTunes is right now?

Is it explicit?

Have you seen the video?

You see, those nice little “Explicit Lyrics” labels might help us filter out some music, but what will help us discern the appropriateness of the “clean” music? (that’s what our kids call the music without the explicit lyrics labels)

Let’s use the #1 song on iTunes right now as an example. It’s “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas.

Ask your kids, “Is this song clean?”

“Yes mom! See. No explicit lyrics!”

Are they right? Have you done your parental duty?

Jump on iTunes right now and take a listen. If you listen for a minute or so, it sounds innocent enough. Rather catchy too.

Are you done? Okay… maybe not.

Listen to the whole song, or jump to Google and type in “I Gotta Feeling lyrics.”

Oh my!

This is a little more disconcerting. Listen at almost two minutes when Fergie kicks in:

I feel stressed out
I wanna let it go
Lets go way out spaced out
and loosing all control

Fill up my cup
Mazal tov
Look at her dancing
just take it off

Wow. Maybe you didn’t catch that listening to it the first time.

But let's be honest. Some parents might think that this is still pretty tame. Okay. Let’s do what the majority of kids do and look at the video. Jump to Google, YouTube or MTV.com. It doesn’t matter… kids use them all. Type “I Gotta Feeling Video and you’ll find it within one click. Now take a quick watch. I warn you- this video has no nudity, no sex and no cursing in it. So, it’s clean, right? Take a peek. Seriously, don’t just stop at Fergie in a thong… watch the whole thing! (Once you watch this, please don’t email me and complain that I told you to watch this. If you think this will be a temptation- do this with someone else in the room.) Remember that most your web filters won’t filter this video, because “it’s clean.”

Here’s my point: many parents I talk to have taken steps to block porn, and most good parents monitor the types of films that their kids watch... but I meet very few parents that have any idea what subtle messages are being fed to our kids through the “clean” media channels daily.

Please understand. I’m not saying that we should raise our kids in a dungeon listening to Psalty’s Christmas Special. I’m not even saying to unplug your computer from the wall or block your Disney channel. I’m just trying to advocate a little bit of education for parents about the lies our kids are hearing every day. The number one hit we just glanced at above has some pretty sensual images in the video that a teenage guy will really struggle seeing. And the song’s message of “letting it go” and “losing control” might hit home for a lot of teenagers.

Is this a good message? Is this the message you want your kids listening to?

Educate yourself. Tune into our Youth Culture Window articles. These articles reveal you the truth about subjects like the place that some teens are getting their sex advice, they give you a summary of the “junk” (literally) your kids would have seen watching the MTV Movie Awards this year, and they expose the subtle messages in today’s PG-13 films. This huge collection of articles contains a gold mine of good information for parents.

In our parent seminars, David and I try to not only expose these subtle media messages that our kids are immersing themselves with, but we also try to teach parents how to filter these influences and teach our kids discernment.

Dialogue with your kids about their media choices. You’ll find that most kids today are pretty honest.

What are your kids exposing themselves too?

New Ideas

Jonathan Mckee — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:10:15 GMT

"I use your site all the time!"

That's what I always hear from youth workers when I see them face to face. But it's interesting, so many of these youth workers only seem to know about a few of our free resources. They might use our games or our Movie Clip Discussions... but they never knew we had a podcast. Or they listen to the podcast and read the Youth Culture Window articles, but they never even know about all our free curriculum and all our various forms of discussion jumpstarters.

I'm surprised how many youth workers don't even know what the front page of our web site offers each week.

For example: look at the front page of our web site this week: www.TheSource4YM.com It highlights six brand new resources of all shapes and sizes.

1. A brand new Youth Culture Window article about kids going "high tech" with cheating.

2. Our OUTREACH RESOURCE OF THE WEEK (updated weekly of course, hence the name) has a brand new lesson/discussion from David using an heart pounding clip from the good ol' film Vertical Limit. David, my director of content development, has been really revamping our MOVIE CLIP DISCUSSIONS page lately. I don't know if you've taken a peek. But EVERY movie on this page now includes small group questions, scripture, transition statements, wrap ups... everything you need. You just rent the film and we do the rest.

3. Our SPIRITUAL GROWTH RESOURCE OF THE WEEK (yes... updated weekly) has another brand new lesson/discussion using a classic clip from Bruce Almighty to provoke discussion about faith during tough times.

4. Our WHAT'S NEW? section has a new game that is perfect for "anywhere."

5. Our THE SOURCE PODCAST page (with a link right there on the front page), our podcast for youth workers, has a brand new episode (launched just last week) with David and I answering your questions from our ASK THE SOURCE page.

6. Our A LI'L BIT PODCAST page (also linked right there from our front page), our 10-Minute Bible study for kids, has a brand new episode (launched just last week) as well!

Whew. I'm tired just thinking about all this!

Enjoy the resources. And when in doubt of where to look for what you need... always just start at the front page of www.TheSource4YM.com

Another Transformers Disappointment

Jonathan Mckee — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:14:02 GMT

This last week our movie guy Todd reviewed the new Transformers film. Like most critics, he thought the film stunk. But I thought you'd be curious of some of the reasoning behind Todd's assessment.

Let me back way up. A year and a half ago Todd and I did our first annual Special Movie Review Podcast, a special episode where the two of us talked about movies from the perspective of two youth workers. We reviewed some films, talked about the best "clean" films that you could actually show at youth group, etc. It was a fun podcast.

One of the memorable moments of the podcasts was when we disagreed about the first Transformers film. He loved it, and I didn't have much good to say about it. My main concern was the subtle messages that degraded women. You can check out that podcast if you want to hear my rant.

Regardless, I was a little skeptical as I saw Transformers II approaching, its previews full of Megan Fox eye-candy.

Apparently my suspicions weren't far from the truth.

Here's a few comments from Todd's review:

Megan Fox seems to only have one agenda: more sexuality. I mean, when the first time we see her and she is bent over a motorcycle with a short pair of Daisy Dukes, what are we suppose to think? And I had to laugh at the countless slow-motion-Baywatch style running scenes she had. To make it worse, we have a new Transformer that can change into a human…and of course she has to be another bombshell. She “seduces” Sam but when Mikaela finds them together in his dorm, he tries to get away…so the Transformer whips her 100ft metal tongue around his neck...

His entire review here.

Youth Ministry in Iraq

Jonathan Mckee — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:14:04 GMT

Yesterday I received a pretty encouraging email from a fellow "youth worker" ministering in a distant land. He's a chaplain in Iraq!

Over the last decade we've seen www.TheSource4YM.com used by youth workers all over the the English speaking world. I get emails from across the pond, down under, Africa and Asia. It's amazing to see how many people use our free resources and training. But yesterday's email was particularly encouraging coming from our troops in the desert.

Below is the email I received from Captain Dave Christensen who just listened to our free podcast for youth workers (basically, a free "radio show" for youth workers- this particular episode answering a bunch of questions from the field). Dave liked one of the suggestions we gave to youth workers, a suggestion to "debrief" as leaders after each ministry gathering, to evaluate and improve.

I'll let his words tell the rest of the story:

I'm an Army Chaplain, currently deployed to Iraq and I wanted to comment on your answer to Millie in "Help Me! Episode 26." I spent about 10 years in youth ministry before becoming a chaplain. I've actually found being a chaplain much more similar to youth ministry than anything else due to the majority of my flock being 18-24 years old. Anyway, I thought you'd find it amusing that the regular debriefing thing you suggested is a very "Army" idea. We do this with everything we do. Of course, we have a fancy name and acronym for it. We call it an After Action Review (AAR). Every time a squad goes on mission "outside the wire", we have an AAR when we make it back. I have one with my Chaplain Assistant after a service or Soldier visitation. I do one on my own after every counseling session. I write up formal AARs after more highly visible events like Memorial Ceremonies. My point is that this practice is one of the things that make our military the best in the world. We constantly evaluate what we do and try to improve. Everyone has a say too, from the most junior private to the unit commander. I really believe, this practice, combined with prayer would benefit almost any ministry in any setting. Thanks for everything you do at the source. I think I've been using the web site for about 10 years now and I plan on continuing to the use all the wonderful resources here.

Blessings,

CH (CPT) Dave Christensen
Jonathan,

Thanks Dave! I know those of us in the U.S. appreciate your service to our country! And all of us appreciate your work for the Kingdom. Keep up the good work!

Using Cell Phones to Cheat

Jonathan Mckee — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:49:17 GMT

I wouldn't be telling you anything new if I told you that teenagers are practically dependant on their cell phones. And I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised to find out that the majority of teenagers cheat on school exams. But what you might find interesting is how many students are using their cell phones to cheat.

According to a brand new poll conducted by non-profit organization Common Sense Media...

- more than a third of teens with cell phones (35 percent) admit to cheating at least once with them
- two-thirds of all teens (65 percent) say others in their school cheat with them

Of the teens who admit to cheating with their cell phone...
- 26 percent say they store information on their phone to look at during a test
- 25 percent text friends about answers during a test
- 17 percent take pictures of the test to send to friends
- 20 percent search the internet for answers during tests using their phones

Also...
- nearly half (48 percent) of teens with cell phones call or text their friends to warn them about pop quizzes
- just over half of students polled (52 percent) admitted to some form of cheating involving the internet
- Twenty-one percent of students say they've downloaded a paper or report from the internet to turn in
- 50 percent have seen or heard about others doing this
- 38 percent have copied text from web sites and turned it in as their own work
- 60 percent have seen or heard this
- 32 percent have searched for teachers' manuals or publishers' solutions to problems in textbooks they are currently using
- 47 percent have seen or heard this

So it's pretty evident that cheating is going on (we've written entire Youth Culture Window articles on this subject). What's even more concerning from this study is that only about half of these kids think that "cell phone use during a test" is a serious cheating offense.

It's almost as if these students don't know what integrity is. Or is it perhaps that they simply aren't seeing good character modeled to them? ("Trust me honey, the 'short sale' on our home is the wise thing to do.")

Hmmmmmmm.

(ht to David)

Quick Thumbs

Jonathan Mckee — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:44:01 GMT

How fast can you text?

Can you text blindfolded?

Do you know all those crazy texting acronyms? (gtg, brb.)

You might not value these skilss, but a 15-year-old Iowa girl just won the national title, including the $50,000 grand prize... for texting!

CNN reports:

A 15-year-old girl with a 500-texts-a-day texting habit thumbed her way to the $50,000 grand prize at the L.G. National Texting Championship in New York on Tuesday.

Over 250,000 participants of all ages entered the competition, whose championship rounds were held in New York on Monday and Tuesday and won by Kate Moore of Des Moines, Iowa.

Some challenges were straightforward tests of speed and accuracy, but others required a little extra texting savvy. In one round, texters had to send texts while blindfolded. Another round quizzed contestants' knowledge of texting acronyms...

Click here for the entire article.

(ht to David)

The Hugging Threat

Jonathan Mckee — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:56:01 GMT

Sometimes an article comes along that doesn't even deserve a comment. Such is this one.

Oh... forget it. I can't hold back. I'll change it up by giving you my comments before you even read this article.

COMMENTS:

"Needless?"

The "threat" of hugging? Seriously? a "threat?"

You've gotta be kidding. Someone PLEASE tell me this is a cynical piece. Pick your battles people. This is the least of our concerns.

Okay... I'm done. Here's a piece of the article:

In their endless campaign and their inherited duty to confound their elders, this latest generation of teenagers has adopted a new weapon:

Hugging.

As detailed by a recent front-page story in The New York Times, teenage hugging has become an epidemic stretching from one coast to the other. Girls are hugging girls. Boys are hugging boys. Boys are hugging girls and vice-versa, which is not really a new development, except that now the inter-gender embraces do not necessarily have ulterior motives.

“For Teenagers, Hello Means ‘How About a Hug?” according to the story’s headline.

“We’re not afraid, we just get in and hug,” a male high school junior is quoted as saying. “The guy friends, we don’t care. You just get right in there and jump in.”

“We like to get cozy,” an eighth-grade girl in San Francisco explains. “The high-five is, like, boring,”

One might think that the practice of kids exchanging hugs, not drugs — or slugs — would be welcomed without reservation and even with open arms by parents and educators. One might be wrong.

• A parenting columnist for the Associated Press admits that she is baffled.

“It’s a wordless custom, from what I’ve observed,” she writes in her book, “13 is the new 18.” “And there doesn’t seem to be any other overt way in which they acknowledge each other. No hi, no smile, no wave, no high-five — just the hug.”

• Experts have been consulted to delve into what this threat of teenage hugging is all about.

Click here for the entire article.

(ht to Rick from PA)