Chapter 2

Chapter 2
Maintaining Influence
Don’t Disqualify Yourself
 
Raising a teen?  The phrase is fundamentally flawed. Teen.  They are kind of already "raised".  Really, we are now chasing after influence that will result in growth.  So here is the big question of this chapter:
My teen no longer cares what I say! How do you maintain influence in their life?
 
If you ask the right question you are going to have a better shot at winning here. Your goal is influence. You want the influence in their life. Influence means you can say, “I think that is the wrong girl for you,” and you will cause them to deeply consider breaking up. What you say will carry great weight, causing them to question their own direction, and consider the words you say. They will drive the car of life, but you are getting to steer an awful lot. This is the safety net that has the power to keep their lives from spinning out of control. You will say, “I think you can get an A in that class if you work hard, so now here are some things you can do…” and you are giving them some pointers and they are actually valuing the wisdom, even listening.  Wow.  This is exactly where we are headed!  In the following two chapters we are going to look at how to gain and maintain influence.  The truth is, you started as the major influencer in their life.  How can you keep that influence?
 
The first mistake you may make is getting yourself disqualified as an influencer. The runner gets disqualified from the race if he takes a short cut across the lawn. It is the same for parenting teens. You are running in the race of life, but they can tell if you are cheating your way through it. What I mean is, you can’t ask them to eat healthy while you eat garbage.  However, I’m not talking about how you eat. I mean all of what you do.  You want them to not sleep with the person they date, but are you? Would you?  Did you?  Are you telling them you did? So not disqualifying yourself means this one is on you.  You – let’s work on you for a sec. Are you in church every week?  Is God your priority?  Is it obvious?  Does church mean we go unless there is something... To Continue order your copy today