Aggressive girls

On a recent Wednesday night at youth group, I was sauntering down the halls of the church, minding my own business.  I looked ahead to see the mother of one of our students making a beeline for me.  Any experienced youth worker will tell you, when a parent approaches you, it's rarely to give a compliment.  Something is usually wrong.  I breathed a quick prayer and braced myself for whatever criticism was coming.  But this woman caught me completely off guard.  

With an urgency in her voice, she said, "Can you help me with something?  My son is being harassed by some girls here at church.  They keep approaching him and asking him to go out.  They play with his hair and hug him without his permission.  Now they are starting to call our house at all hours of the night.  It's making him uncomfortable, and we don't know what to do!"

I was even more stunned to discover the identity of the girls who were involved.  They were girls in the small group I was leading.  These were Christian girls growing up in good homes with caring parents.  How could this be?

I promised the mother I would speak with the girls.  When I asked them about their relationship with the boy, they saw nothing wrong with their behavior.  They viewed it as innocent flirting and nothing more.  We had a very long talk that night about appropriate conduct towards young men and how their actions affect others.  

Apparently, this is a growing problem.  Check out the article below by Dennis Rainey of Family Life for tips on protecting your sons and training your daughters.  

Protecting Your Son From Aggressive Girls 

Thanks to my big brother Larry for bringing this to my attention!  

Welcome to PARENtEEN!

Hey everybody!  Welcome to the new PARENtEEN blog.  If you are new here, you are entering a community of parents, youth workers and teens who want to better their relationships.  We are all in this together, so feel free to post comments and helpful links to resources.  I look forward to our new adventure, and as always, I am praying for you and your children!