Healthy Dating Relationships

This week in the PresbYouth room, we are talking about what a healthy relationship looks like in today's dating world. We are going to have a number of people joining us: Including Mcartney Labor, a research psychology major at The University of Sioux Falls, Past Nathan and his wife, Jennifer, and The Papke's. McCartney will be speaking about the psychological and scientific side of consent in a relationship. Before you panic, please know that consent, here, refers to more that just consentual sex, but rather encompasses a loving and respectful relationship as a whole. From how one goes about asking someone on a date, to kissing, to making plans, and of course, sex: consent should be playing a role in all of it. McCartney will be highlighting the fact that consent keeps from hurt feelings, manipulation, loss, and heartbreak. I will be relating what she is saying from a psychologist standpoint, to what the bible has to say about it.
Then, for the second half of the night, we will be bringing in our panel of couples from different time periods to discuss what dating was like for them in middle school, high school, college, and beyond. This will be a great opportunity to see how our generation Y'ers are different from the genrations before them, and to see how technology does play a role in the way we treat the one's we are courting.
This will be a fun night! Yes, there will be some awkward conversation about sex, but the goal is to be honest about it! To lighten the mood, the night will be themed like a talk show (cough, cough, i can finally be Elen). This will make it a fun atmosphere and take a little bit of weight off the topic.
I wonder what conversations, you as parents have had with your students about the topic, and what you as students have brought up with your parents...researchers have found that less than 25% of males never talk to their parents about sex. I hope that this is not the case within our congregation! Of course, it's awkward. It should be! But it is so important to understand this topic--from both the parent perspective and the teenage perspective. Have you had a conversation about it? Do you want to? I don't have any intension of pushing you to have a conversation you don't want to have, nor do I want to come across as a hypocrite. You see, I never spoke to my parents about the topic, and I doubt I ever will. But I wish I had, and I wish they had spoken to me. So many people today are clueless and reckless about the topic. What do you think would happen if we entered in to those conversations? Could it hurt?
Let me know what you think, in the comments below, in the youth room, in church--I love to chat!

Peace to you from the youth room,
Jada











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