Why Teens Do Stupid Things

Interesting article on Yahoo from LiveScience. It seems like teens really do think about the consequences of their actions. But their decisions are usually not based upon the consequences, they are based upon the desire to be accepted. Which brings me to an interesting thought.

Shouldn’t their decisions be based on something that is unchangeable, something deeper. Shouldn’t we be teaching youth and teens that decisions flow out of our relationship with Christ. They should be based not on consequences, not on acceptance, but on the core beliefs and principles found in the Bible. Hopefully in those times of temptation, our core beliefs will shape the way we think and respond. That is one reason that I want to make sure we give teens a good foundation on which to make tough decisions. Instead of youth ministry that tells them, don’t do this, and don’t do that, and God want you to do …, we need to go deeper and challenge what they believe and why. Here’s a link from the article.

But it’s not that they don’t ponder the the potential consequences. In fact, a new study finds teens spend more time weighing risk than adults and in fact often overestimate the odds of a bad outcome. But the desire for acceptance among peers wins out in the decision-making process of a young mind.