When we think about the things that got us into trouble as teens, we can better put ourselves in our children’s shoes and make sure we set up road blocks to bad choices and initiate conversations that can be difficult but necessary. Remember, the same sex parent should be the most influential. And don’t forget to “go back” to their age and how one thing led to another. The risk taking got bigger, the deviant behavior became more comfortable and the life-style became more acceptable than the alternative of healthy choices.
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them. If they say, “Come along with us; let’s lie in wait for someone’s blood, let’s waylay some hapless soul; let’s swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse”
my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; for their feet rush into sin they are swift to shed blood. How useless to spread a net in full view of that of the birds!
These men lie in wait for their own blood; they waylay only themselves! Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it.
Proverbs 1:8-19
