Helping our Kids Explore their Identity
from Breaking Bread Podcast Hosted by Kathy Knochel & Brian Sutter
Exploration is a prerequisite to having a settled identity. For parents with kids unsettled and exploring, this can be a frightening time. What role do we play in the exploration process? In this episode of Breaking Bread, Kathy Knochel and Brian Sutter will help us sort it out. Show notes: Identity: Is the sense of self – Who I am and who I am not. Identity Formation: Starts with exploration and ends with commitment. Exploration is trying, investigating, experiencing, researching. Commitment is being settled, resolved and grounded. Identity Culture in "the west": It is constructed individually. This means that the community has a limited influence on placing an identity on an individual. Rather, the individual has the ownness of discovering and embracing their identity. Challenge: Our young people are saddled with the task of sorting out their identity for themselves. Angst: Watching young people explore their identity. Opportunity: Support and guide exploration in community. As possible, try not to rigidly force closure on those in the exploration phase. Rather, have dialogue that prompts healthy exploration. Thoughtful open-ended questions, and critical thinking prompts are necessary to guide wise investigation. Have patience in the process with a goal to maintain relationship. Fear: Suppose an unwise identity is chosen? Remember: Where there is life, there is experience. Where there is experience, there is exploration. Where there is exploration, there is hope yet for a good commitment.
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