09/10/23 It's Just a Phase - Start the Countdown

Watch this Week's Message

Icebreakers
To start the discussion, choose one of the following Icebreaker Questions. (Or more than one if time allows.) You may want to ask these before the teaching video, whatever works best for you. 

1. What’s one thing you swore you’d never do as a parent . . . that you’ve definitely done?
2. Come clean—what’s been one of the funniest “parenting fails” in your household? (It has to be your fail! Not the other parent’s!)
3. How many weeks do you have until your child turns 18? (If you're a parent, you can check the Parent Cue App downloadable from Google Play or the App Store.)

Discussion Questions 
These questions are a guide to get the conversation started in your group—don’t feel like you need to ask everything you see here! As long as you’re having a conversation, you’re on the right track. Also, feel free to adjust the questions to fit the needs of your specific group. 

1. What is something that has changed about your kids or the kids in your life in the last year?
2. Consider this statement. “When you see how much time you have left, you tend to do more with the time you have now.” How have you seen this in your life in general? 
3. Remind us how many weeks you estimate each of your kids or the kids in your life have left before they turn 18?
4. How might putting a number to your weeks impact your parenting or your involvement in their lives? 
5. Make a short list of things you hope your kids or the kids in your life will come to believe over time that may be hard to convince them in just a moment. 
6. Can you remember something that your parents or grandparents did over time that fueled you emotionally in a positive way?
7. What do you think might be your kids or the kids in your life’s favorite thing to do as a family or with you in the phase they are in now?

PARENT CUE: Create a visual countdown (like a marble jar) of the weeks you have left with your child until they move on to their next. You’ll find the number of weeks for your child in your Parent Cue App!
For additional reading, check out the “Measure Your Weeks” section in your Phase Guide found in the FAMILY TOOLBOX at the church or here online.