Wait, wasn't the early years also a season of preparation? Yes! Much like the drastic changes from a newborn to a pre-k aged child, your High Schooler is going to mature just as drastically in this season. And the time to prepare for what comes next is right now. In just four short years, your son or daughter goes from a freshman finding their footing to an emerging adult standing at the edge of the rest of their life. Don't worry too much though, they'll still need you when they graduate.

You can trace those four years in the questions they ask. As a freshman, it's "Where do I belong?" As a sophomore, "Why should I believe you?" As a junior, "How can I matter?" And as a senior, "What will I do?" Belonging become values, values become significance, and significance gives them vision. Your role is to mobilize their potential: to ask good questions instead of handing out easy answers, to give them room to make decisions in their faith, and to help them discover a mission worth giving their life to.

By now your job has shifted. But it is far from over. You're less the one holding everything up and more the one standing alongside, supporting the branches as they stretch out in new directions. That means handing over more ownership than you might feel comfortable about, letting them wrestle with hard questions, and cheering them on as their faith becomes truly theirs and not just yours. Keep pointing to Jesus, and trust the foundation you've been laying all this time. The goal was never just to raise a good kid. It was to prepare a son or daughter who will know the love of the Lord, and follow Jesus all the days of their life. You have prepared them for such a time as this.

This stage is a season of preparation.

Let us help you do it well!