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Jonathan’s Resource Ezine |
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
- Something You Can Use This Week: Using Bruno Mars’ Just the Way You Are to Get Kids Talking about God’s Complete, Perfect Love
- Youth Culture Window: Abstinence is Up, but Consequences Not Down
- Jonathan’s Blog: But Mom, It’s Only 10 PM! – Teenagers Sleeping Habits… and Sleeping Distractions
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A Quick Music Discussion Guide
The Song: “Just the Way You Are”
Bruno Mars has caught our attention quite a bit at The Source for Youth Ministry in recent months. We’ve already penned curriculum for two of his hit tunes (“Billionaire”-which he cowrote with Travie McCoy-and “Grenade”).
Now comes “Just the Way You Are,” an almost entirely sweet love song that garnered Mars a Grammy last month for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance….
More Young People Waiting
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just released one of the largest, most in-depth national reports to date on sexual behavior among young people in the U.S., studying more than 13,000 people aged 15 to 44, including more than 5,000 aged 15 to 24.
The most surprising result? More kids seem to be waiting for sex.
For instance, among 15- to 17-year-olds (using 2006-2008 numbers):
- 58% of girls said they have had no sexual contact.
- 53% of boys said they have had no sexual contact.
Their 2005 study (using 2002 results) found:
- 48.6% of girls said they have had no sexual contact.
- 46.1% of boys said they have had no sexual contact.
Those are encouraging numbers, for sure. USA Today referenced the study and highlighted the fact that even older kids (college-age) are having less sex.
- 27% of young men (ages 15 to 24) said they never had a sexual encounter.
- 29% of young women (ages 15 to 24) said they never had a sexual encounter.
When the National Center for Health Statistics last studied this age group’s sexual habits, it found only 22% of 15- to 24-year-olds said the same. That means more students – from high school and college – are waiting to have sex.
Tagging onto this finding, researchers from Duke University recently polled 1,500 students on the North Carolina campus and found that only a third said they had “hooked up.” Further extending the good news, many of these hook-ups involved only make out sessions, not full-on sexual experiences.
Digging Deeper Could these numbers be skewed? Some wonder. After all…
Jonathan McKee, president of The Source for Youth Ministry, is the author of numerous youth ministry books including the brand new Ministry By Teenagers, Connect: Real Relationships in a World of Isolation, and the award winning book Do They Run When They See You Coming? He speaks and trains at camps, conferences, and events across North America, and provides free resources for youth workers internationally on his website, TheSource4YM.com. 
But Mom, It’s Only 9PM…
Posted on Wednesday, March 09, 2011
This morning I was talking with my 15-year-old daughter Alyssa on the way to school about a friend of hers who she’s been praying for. “She’s always in a bad mood,” Alyssa ranted. “She’s got stressful stuff going on at home and she never gets enough sleep.”
Even though I had a good guess as to why, I asked Alyssa, “Why isn’t she getting enough sleep?”
“Because she stays up late texting a guy every night. He’ll text her in the middle of the night. She doesn’t ever turn off her cell phone.”
Alyssa’s friend isn’t alone. As a matter of fact, her friend is in the majority. According to a brand new study by the National Sleep Foundation:
- The average hours of sleep per night for 13-18-year-olds is 7 hours and 26 minutes, well short of the 9 hours and 15 minutes recommended by experts.
- 72% of this age group text the hour before bedtime (which the report related to not getting good or enough sleep)
- 28% of this age group leave their phone ringers on all night in their bedroom (that doesn’t include vibrate)(this group reports getting much less sleep)
- Average bedtime for this age group is 11:02 p.m.
- 13-18-year-olds drink, on average, 3.1 caffeinated beverages a day to try to cope with their lack of sleep.
I’ll be honest…
Other Topics Jonathan Blogged about Recently:
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Jonathan McKee
Jonathan McKee is the author of over twenty books including the brand new The Guy's Guide to FOUR BATTLES Every Young Man Must Face; The Teen’s Guide to Social Media & Mobile Devices; If I Had a Parenting Do Over; and the Amazon Best Seller - The Guy's Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket. He speaks to parents and leaders worldwide, all while providing free resources for youth workers on TheSource4YM.com. Jonathan, his wife Lori, and their three kids live in California.