BRACE FOR
We’re excited for your family to build a solid foundation for adolescence. As you go through the video lessons, you and your preteen will be more confident and encouraged to tackle what comes ahead.
Take It In (x2)
Get prepped with the parent video! And when ready, watch the other session video(s) with your kid. It will be fun, awkward, eye-opening, all that messy stuff. Good times!
Talk It Out
Use your Parent’s Guide to fill the awkward space that normally follows the end of a video. It has rich, meaningful questions you can ask. Unless you want to sit in silence …
Dig Deeper
One session won’t stick around forever. The Dig Deeper section of your Parent’s Guide can make it stick. The weeks and months that follow will really make a difference!
Need more help before getting started?
Visit our Resouces Section to learn how Launch Into the Teen Years works and get
the most out of your experience.
Session One
Who Am I?
Session Two
The One About Friends & Other Enemies
Session Three
Of Memes & Meanies
Session Four
About Male & Female
Session Five
What’s Happening to My Body?
Session Six
The Big Talk (gulp!)
Launch into the Teen Years
Resources
Focus on the Family is here to provide extra support as you go along. There are FAQs, parent perspectives, free resources, and more! We hope it helps as you as you and your preteen embark on this journey together.
New to Launch
Talking to your preteen about things like sex, dating, and identity can feel awkward. But these conversations are so important as you help your child build a strong foundation for life.
Launch into the Teen Years will help you tackle uncomfortable topics, create necessary boundaries, and teach your child to manage their emotions. While doing all this, you can become a source of love and grace while pointing your child to the ultimate source of truth: God.
New conversations come up every day when your child is growing up. They experience things at school, at youth group, or even in the news, that they aren’t always prepared for. You may not be prepared either. But Launch into the Teen Years prepares you to confront those difficult topics that suddenly arrive.
Whether it’s a sudden unexpected conversation about sexuality or a difficulty with a dating relationship, you can respond to the situation with wisdom and confidence.
Finally, Launch into the Teen Years equips you to guide your son and daughter to be a contributor to their world rather than a consumer of their world. This means that your preteen will learn to encourage and support others instead of looking for what others can do for them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do we need to go through all the content in one sitting?
Not necessarily! Launch into the Teen Years’ content was designed to be flexible, so you can use it in a way that suits your family’s needs.
There are six segments of content, and each segment discusses different topics in depth. You can cover sections on your own timetable based on your child’s development and experiences. You may decide to discuss some topics immediately and save other topics for a later discussion.
You can also consider your relationship with your child, as well as the time you have available as you determine how much content to cover in each sitting.
What’s the right age to start talking to my child about these topics?
Based on research and professional experience, Launch into the Teen Years is designed for children between 8 and 12 years old.
It’s never too early to prepare your preteen for adolescence, especially with all the physical, mental, and emotional changes your child will go through. Just make sure to consider your preteen’s unique emotional and relational development before you start.
How should I prepare to discuss difficult topics in an open and honest way?
Launch into the Teen Years comes with a Parent’s Guide. It’s designed to help you know how to best use Launch’s content with your preteen.
Also, parents don’t have to provide or create content on their own. So don’t worry! The Parent’s Guide will take you through thoughtful parent-child conversations based on each video. The guide also provides opportunities for you to draw from your own experiences as you approach difficult topics with your child.
How detailed is the information on puberty and anatomy, and what’s the right age to talk about it with my child?
Multiple sessions cover things like puberty and sexual anatomy in-depth. However, Launch focuses on providing a healthy biblical foundation, so this information is provided with God’s truth in mind.
8 to 12 year olds are at the proper age to discuss these topics. Because puberty generally begins at this time, it’s beneficial for your son or daughter to understand specific terminology and anatomy. You can decide how much explanation is necessary within these conversations based on your relationship with your child.
How detailed is the information about sexual intercourse?
Multiple Launch sessions contain direct and indirect discussions addressing sexual intercourse. Specifically, there is one session about God’s design for sexual intercourse between one male and one female within the context of marriage. Additionally, there are specific breakout sessions for “only boys” and “only girls” that parents can discuss with their preteen.
Most importantly, the discussion about sex builds upon previous discussions about puberty and anatomy to provide context and content for your preteen. Consider your relationship with your son or daughter to determine how much detailed explanation is necessary.
What is the balance between biblical content and cultural content within Launch into the Teen Years?
A Christian worldview is the central foundation for all content within Launch. You and your preteen will discuss specific issues within the culture, but the culture does not provide the content.
Sessions emphasize biblical principles with a culturally relevant perspective. This will help effectively prepare your preteen for the adolescent years.
Do both parents need to be present to go through the material?
Both parents don’t need to be present for every session, but there are benefits if both parents are consistently involved. Each parent brings a unique perspective to the conversation that the other may not. There are also specific insights a father can provide a son and a mother can provide a daughter. As you move through the Launch content, consider how your child responds differently to you and your spouse to make the best decision for their development.
Who Gets a Vote in Your Preteen's Life?
Instructions:
- Encourage your preteen to think of people who influence them. This could be family, friends, teachers, coaches, or other people in their life.
- This target has three rings. Each ring represents who gets the most votes in your preteen’s life. Think of votes like influence points. Whoever has the greatest influence gets the most points.
- The center ring is for the people who get the most votes.
- The next ring is for the people who get a medium number of votes.
- The final and outer ring is for the people who get the fewest number of votes.
- Then, have your son or daughter write the names of the people in which section they think they belong.
- For example, if mom or dad get the most votes in your preteen’s life, they would go in the center ring. If a sibling gets a medium number of votes, they go in the next ring.
- Once they finish, use the questions below to guide conversation about topics like influence, purpose, and relationships.
More Parenting Know-How
Even more resources to help with your parenting!
If you’ve read this far, then you’re a parent who’s eager to learn!
Want to improve your knowledge even more? If so, then there’s some great free resources you can make use of.
Learn How to Raise a Strong Daughter in a Toxic Culture
Your daughter faces challenges and temptations every day. She lives in a culture which is actively attempting to undermine her identity as a woman, as a mother. This culture ties her self-worth to approval on social media, reduces her value to that of a sexual object, and relentlessly attacks her faith.
In this video series licensed pediatrician Dr. Meg Meeker will help you equip your daughter as she faces the difficulties modern culture brings.
Learn the 7 Traits of Effective Parenting
In today's complex world, parenting is a tough job. There are many demands on parents, so many varied situations they find themselves in with their children, which require a wide range of different approaches to handle effectively.
Based in Scripture and enriched by years of application in family counseling, we've identified the seven major traits of parenting, and, in this video series, Dr. Danny Huerta will help you understand and better apply your unique strengths as a parent, and will help you grow in areas in which you may not be as effective as you could be.
Learn How to Raise Your Teen to be a Resilient Christian
Your teenage son or daughter can live a faithful life in exile surrounded by influences that are far from God.
This FREE series of 8 short videos was created to grow your understanding of the spiritual journeys young people go on, and how you can encourage and disciple them along the way.
Learn How to Answer Your Kids' Tough Questions About God
As you share your faith with your children, they'll likely have many, many questions for you.
This free 6-part series "How to Respond When Your Kids Ask Tough Questions About God" will help you better understand the mindset of your child when they ask these questions, give you all the tools needed to answer them, and help you instill in them a curiosity and hunger for the truth.
