A Look at our Grandchildren’s Culture (Part 1)

Our grandchildren are facing a different culture or environment than many of us did when we were growing up or when we raised our children. People make culture and are molded by culture. It changes with the generations just as modernization, fashions, and ideas.

As grandparents, we feel the culture is trying to steal our grandchildren and their parents with their subtle and often dangerous enticements. J.B. Phillips writes in John 10:10 “The thief comes with the sole intention of stealing and killing and destroying.”  We are experiencing the thieves’ subtle intention as we observe the culture/environment our grandchildren are navigating today.

A friend of mine was telling me about the weekend she spent with her grandchildren. She was amazed to hear the things they were talking about and their time on their cell phones texting their friends. They didn’t want to play games with her anymore, only their games on the cell phones.  Spending time with our grandkids gives us ideas about how to pray for them. 

It is hard for us to accept their behavior such as body piercing, tattoos, long hair, music, disrespect, dishonesty and more. However, it is crucial that we let them know that we love them, even when we do not accept their behavior; they are facing many subtle messages from their friends. It’s vital that we model a Biblical worldview to show them how to live in an immoral world by our example.

Cultural issues our Grandchildren have to Navigate 

The Information Age:  

The digital revolution has changed our lives. Google has replaced the World Book encyclopedias. Our grandchildren don’t know that we had telephones with cords or black televisions with only a few channels when we were growing up. That was our norm, but it is not their norm. Today’s culture makes it difficult for our grandchildren to know which message to trust in their vast amount of information they receive on their cell phones. Grandparents can create an environment where the grandchildren will feel safe to ask questions about issues they are facing.

Identity: The Bible states we are made in the image of God, and we have to know God to know ourselves. We don’t know who we are if we don’t know God. Our grandchildren have to deal with transgender bathrooms. My granddaughter’s girlfriend suddenly decided she wanted to be a boy, wore boy’s clothing, and acted like a boy. We are told that even kindergarteners are exposed to gender identity being told they can be either a boy or girl, whatever they decide. 

Pornography: The Covenant Eyes website offers the following statics.  90 percent of boys and 60 percent of girls said they were exposed to pornography before the age of eighteen. One out of every eight online searches and one out of every five mobile searches are for porn. Pornography makes up one-third of the Internet’s bandwidth. I know this is heavy, but this is what our grandchildren are facing. Porn produces many consequences. They are told many lies about porn, that it is harmless and no one else’s’ business.  Pray that God will protect the eyes of our dear grandchildren and give them the strength to flee from the temptation of porn when they are enticed.

Addiction:  Our grandchildren are filled with lies about legalized marijuana, alcohol, and drugs. It’s important they are taught the consequences of using these before they are exposed to them. The use of alcohol and drugs is high among high school students and higher among college students, and the numbers are rising. Addiction is a result of the emptiness of the soul; it doesn’t take care of the pain. Only their faith in Jesus Christ will give them fulfillment.

Information is found on John Stonestreet & Brett Kunkle, A Practical Guide to Culture, David C. Cook Publisher, 2017

Don’t miss Part 2  It will be continued next week on this website.

A View of our Grandchild’s Culture is a chapter taken from the Revised and Expanded edition of Grandparenting with a Purpose: Effective Ways to Pray for your Grandchildren, written by Lillian Penner, Co-prayer Director for Christian Grandparenting Network.