Episode 138: My High Schoolers Open Up About Expectations, Victories, and Finding Their Voice

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Natalie: 

I have three of the girls in my podcasting class, and I'm excited ladies to talk about things that really matter to teenagers. I have a heart for high schoolers and then, you know how much I love you guys. Let's talk about the things teenagers worry about. Who wants to start tell me about the pressure of that. I have really bad senior-itis right now. So I haven't been doing nothing. And it's just been pretty bad. Marissa. Like for grades, what what are the pressures? What are the things you worry about most. I say, It's definitely hard to kind of it's with like comparison, like a lot of comparison compared to your other classmates and like peers in your grade. And so a lot of the kids are going to like big name schools. Yeah. And so it's definitely tough. It's kind of have to deal with that. How much does social media plan to that? Like a large percent. And how do you deal with that? You kind of understand that it's on everyone's journey. It's a no matter where you end up, like you're going to be fine. Do you recognize when you're looking at social media and you're finding yourself. Comparing yourself or not feeling good about yourself. Are you able to step back and recognize this? Maybe isn't good for me. Or do you get sucked in. It's definitely easy to get sucked in, but I think now that I've, I've grown a little more. Especially compared to when I was a freshmen. And so now it's a lot easier to be happy for them and not have to compare yourself to where they're going or where they're committed. Yeah. Hannah, what do you worry about? Well, I'm younger, so I don't really worry about. That's it and stuff, but definitely with sports, I think is a big one. In our generation too, because with college and with parents, sports are such a big part of our culture and schooling and everything. how do you deal with the pressures and that level of anxiety? It seems like it's more prevalent. As a matter of fact, the statistics show that it is more prevalent. So how do you deal with anxiety and pressure? Earlier this year end of last year and earlier this year, especially with softball and like school and stuff. I was having panic attacks. I'd never had panic attacks before. Like, I've always been pretty chill, like able to kind of. I don't know, feel things without like overfilling them. And then I started getting like some severe anxiety just on certain things, like stepping out into the field. That was a big thing. It's kind of like it. It feels like it overtakes you. And that happened for a little bit. I started to like biggest thing was like opening my Bible and like having to understand that it's like not of my plan and that like, God already knows your future. everything's planned out. Yeah, even though you may not know it, he's already solved your problems. So then I was like, My worry when I already have someone who knows. I want to do. How about for you, Hannah? Well, mine's kind of cheesy. But when I was always worried in the staff, especially last year when I was about to go into high school. I would journal a lot and I have, like, I think I've five journals completely filled out and I would just like him. I would completely write down all my thoughts and just. That would help me, How about your faith journey? How does that help being a teenager? How have you been able to incorporate God into your daily life When I moved here, I felt really alone. And I just turned to the Lord. And I think, especially going to a Christian school, it helps because. I was writing an essay yesterday. And one of the prompt to connected back to the Lord. And I just felt that it was really easy because I could. Connect what was happening in this. It was about marriage. Our prompt was about marriage and how it like. Connected to God. And it was. Definitely. Helpful for me to like set my mind on like what I would like. A marriage to be like in the future. And how it connects to God. Okay. I could talk to all three of you for the full podcast, but there's some guys back there. But do you want to tell people what you've learned and what you're podcasting about? Because that's how we all met. I'll go first. My podcast is don't listen to Hannah. And I basically. I talk about. A lot of different things. my main thing is just giving advice based on what my listeners ask me, but I just, I talk a lot. Yeah. Good advice. You talk about faith. Yeah. You talked about your struggles to, for people to relate to. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, Nicole, how about you? Here's this different, yeah. Mine is nicole's bookmark and it's just about books. My talk with my friends about different books and then I'll review books. I love that super fun and Marissa you've got a different spin. Yeah. So mine is called grace through the motions with Marissa Mondragon. And it's, it's kind of, it's kind of like, yours is a lot of like faith family. And like one of my weird obsessions is like holistic stuff. So there's going to be holistic, like things in there. I love that too. And then yeah, and fitness fitness is a big part of it. Yeah. Good job. I'm so glad to have you guys in the class. Thank you. Okay. Here's Matthew. And what's up guys? Hey, so your, your, you have how many podcasts out now? I have like eight episodes out, eight episodes already. Wow. Good. Okay. Well, let's talk about media today. That's one of the questions I have because you're really comfortable on a microphone. Not all teenagers are, but how do you, as a teenager in today's world deal with media, social media news podcasts, how does it play into your daily life? And. What influences you. Well, personally, if I had a magic wand, I would prefer not to have any media. I didn't get a phone until like a year and a half ago. I don't, I'm not even like a video games type of person. I like being outside. I like, I'm just playing sports. Hanging out with friends. And so it's not really my thing, but I think why I've incorporated media is cause there's almost been a need to, I feel like with my podcast and then even before my podcast Just like kind of to get people to know me. I, I would say I'm a pretty authentic and willing to share type of person. So it's almost like a tool. I use my podcast. Like reach out and give people a voice. What is the, the hardest part? Of being a high schooler today. I think the unspoken pressures of. juggling being a Christian and them being a student and just being a teenager. But maybe something that I can say for a fact is just like, Yeah, comparison. you feel like you have to maybe be a certain way or act a certain way. And even if like something they know maybe is morally kind of disgusting or you maybe don't. Necessarily want to go along with it, or maybe it's not necessarily like your core beliefs. Sometimes you're like pressured into it. And it's not so much that like, You're not like as a Christian and just as a person in general, I believe you're not as some of your actions, just sometimes you make decisions, maybe. Not when you, like, when you're not thinking. At your best. So I think that's like a struggle and especially cause like, from what I hear. Especially guys, guys, their brains don't even like fully develop until they're like 26 or, and then women, I think 22. So just being a teenager is hard. I feel like, especially in this time of age, Because we do have social media and we do have media. I think you know, I kind of wish that he's kind of back in my parents' time. Your podcast. My podcast is the brick house podcast. My name is Matthew brick. Yeah, you're doing such a great job. I'm really proud of you. Well, thank you. Yeah. Yep. And you're going to keep going on it, so, oh yeah. Well, Every Monday. All right. Thank you. Thanks Matthew. Yeah. Okay. Well, come on up. Okay. So as he's coming up, I'll just tell you, these kids have spent the entire semester developing their concept, coming up with a plan, doing their artwork, all of this in finding a way to use media. So get them close up there to the microphone. Will so I want to ask you, and I know you're a wrestler and what year are you a sophomore? A sophomore. So I have freshmen all the way through seniors, but I want to ask a variety of questions. And the question I have for you is what do you wish adults did more of. In your life or less of. I feel like there should be more structure to like the time we spend with adults around us and especially our family. I think that kind of right now with all the like sports and academics, especially during like finals week. That your life is just so kind of crowded and you just want like a bit of alone time or like to relax, but. You know, you're always going to have that stress and that Certain hobby occupying your time and you just kind of forget about your family. So I think a lot of people kind of look back and at like when they're in high school and in college and just wish that they had more time. But, yeah, it's just so free floating that no one really. Like remembers. Oh, I've got like limited days with the people around me. This is so interesting because what we as parents often think of is. My kids feel like I'm too structured, but yet guardrails and structure and expectations you're saying are, are helpful and important to you. I think when it comes to some things yeah. Like you definitely need a lot of flexibility. But I think when it comes to stuff that we kind of overlook, I think that that structure or. just forcing you to be. Like they're with your family and just enjoy that is what's gonna help you. And Really help you look back and be able to be like, yeah, I made the most of my time. What are the biggest pressures as a teenager today. Honestly, I think it changes for different people. I think certain people value different things like some people might value more how they're seen by others and some people don't value my value. Like. They're academics or if they're like highly ranked and like whatever sport they play, they might value that. I think it's just all reflected in like the time we spent. Or in the time we spend in certain things. So you've gone a different direction with the podcast and it's not published yet. I don't know if you're going to publish it or not, but what have you learned in this process? What do you think is important about the media today I would say it's just kind of interesting How you can present so many things and how you can present yourself and how, you know, different people can learn stuff about you and from you, even if like you're across the country, you know, I think that it opens up that podcasting opens up a new way for people to just consistently learn new things and be able to reach out to new people. And your podcasts that you've been working on is in helping. Other high schoolers. Yeah. Yeah. And what are you doing? It's really just been reviewed for a semester, one finals, Just kind of taking the pressure off of. Mainly just our student athletes, because I know that. Majority of students are also playing sports. I just like helping balance that out and giving them an easy way to study and prepare for these big finals review and be able to listen. Like I, I remember as a, as a high schooler, one of the ways I used to memorize things is I would, I would record myself. I'm going to date myself on a tape recorder and just play it over and over and over just that repetition. So being able to listen and consume by listening and learning. So Clayton's coming up and I am going to ask the same question, cause I think it really speaks to kind of teenagers today and getting to know you and understanding, which is why I love being here in the classroom. The biggest pressure. You see for teenagers today for you or for your friends? What do you think that is? There's a few things. I think one of the big ones is how others view you. Something that people in high school, a lot of. People have to get over and that includes myself is just learning to. Really not care about the negative things people say about you. Because it, it almost feels like. It's human nature to say mean things when it's really not, it's just their choice, but. I mean, the feels like. At least for me, people kind of always say mean things, no matter how you act. So probably just. How others view you is a really big pressure. I would even just say like, great. It's like people make it sound like. If you don't have a 5.0. You're like never going to be able to get into any college. Which it's not true. Like my, my dad's actually done a great job with this. In parenting me. Where he It doesn't push me. For my grades and he yet, I still get good grades because I'm not feeling that pressure from him. Same thing goes with my stepmom. I like, I always say, try to say to my youngest. That it. I don't want you to do well. I want you to want to do well. How, how can we as parents help kids? Cause you mentioned that your dad does that. I'm curious. what makes you want to do well? That's that's a good question. If I'm being quite honest. I feel like it's something that. decision the child has to make. Because I don't think the parent can necessarily ingrain that within them. I think the biggest thing that I, that as again, like I said, with my dad, It's just to not put too much pressure on the child. Because if they really care, They're going to learn from their mistakes are going to learn. From what they've done, this is not just grades, just like anything in life. Colossians 3 23 is over said, I really like to think about when it comes to this sort of thing. Where it says, like, whatever you do. Do it with all your heart as if you were doing it for God. Not for man. whatever you do, that's. I can go from grades to just like treating people out in public the way that they should be treated. So I would say, I would say just engrain That Christian belief. Into them by just. setting an example. And it and tell them. Your mistakes too. That's what I'm that? My dad just don't know who it was. He's explained to me his mistakes. So, not only do I have my mistakes that I've made, but his mistakes. And this is just on the topic of grades. My mistakes and his mistakes, which can help me learn from both. And in grow. As a student. Yeah. Yeah. And then witnessing that vulnerability, being able to say I'm human, I'm a sinner. And I make mistakes, but we learn from them. Totally. I can't wait to meet your dad one day. I mentioned him on the podcast. Yeah, he's had a good job. Anything else that, you know, in your faith journey or in what you're learning as a teenager, that others Might like to hear. I really want to express. The idea of just being there for your kid, always. And basically. Making sure they know that you can tell them anything. And that you can talk to them about anything. Let's turn them as it will bring up my dad again. So my dad's done super well he's let me know that I can. Literally tell him about anything that's going on within my life. And he will give an answer. That is a faith based answer. And that will guide me toward Jesus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fantastic. Thanks, Clayton. Yeah. Nice. I didn't ask you about your podcast, but let's talk about that real quick. What are you talking about? You haven't put it out there publicly, but what have you learned from it and what is your hope with it? So my podcast it's called the faith or fear podcast. It's it's it's really, it was basically supposed to be like mini sermons kind of. But really just talking about like day to day. Things and how we can show our faith just like little things in life. Most people just think of like evangelizing preaching on the streets. Whereas. There's so many things that you can do. Like, those are amazing. Don't get me wrong. But By just wearing things. That have Christian stuff on them, or I think. Most importantly for me is sharing your testimony. because it just shows God's story and how he's gotten you through the struggles that you've gone through. I think that, that That's that's what I do that I've really touched on with my podcast. So yeah, it's really just taught me. Those things and just, yeah. Yeah. And being vulnerable in that too, because we relate to stories. Right. When we, when we hear other people's stories, the power of our testimony. Beckett's a freshmen as well. I want to ask you about teenagers today. the pressures that you have and how the adults around you have helped or hurt. Oh, there's definitely some pressures on like school and sports. Mainly sports for me. My parents are less like. Kind of. On edge about my grades, because school has always been kind of easy for me, but. Sports for sure. Like my dad was pushes me to make the best sports theme and all this. Like stuff and there's like a big pressure on that and like having to be the best one. It's okay. To not always be number one. And then my mom's helped me a lot with that, for sure. The end of the world that you didn't make that one team. How do you deal with I call them mountain tops and valleys. We're not at, we're going to learn more in the valley. So if you don't make a team or you do. What are the lessons you learn from that? And. And growing for yourself and getting better, maybe it's on sports, maybe it's in friends or what lessons do you learn in that? In sports, for sure. Like a lack of preparation. Like if you want to make a team, you have to put in your best and you can't just put in your best once you get there. Yeah, we have to be putting in your best from the moment you've wanted to make a team. Until that time. Yeah. Do you think it's hard to be a Christian today as a teenager? Yeah, for sure. There's a lot more. Stuff that like teenagers will try to do now because they want to be more like grown-up and adult when we're all still kids. And we should just focus on like school friends, sports, stuff like that and stuff. All the negative stuff. That's in life. So there's definitely. More of a pressure now to like kind of act more grown up than you are. Yeah. How do you deal with that? And you're a freshman, you're one of the youngest in the class, It's probably harder for the youngest people at the school. Yeah, well, I usually stay away from stuff like that. But there's obviously situations where I've been in where it's like, I'm not expecting it and then it comes up. Kind of thinking what God would do in this situation and like how I can get out of it without like seeming maybe too harsh about getting out of it. But yeah, definitely focusing on what Jesus would do in the situation instead of what, like I want to do in this situation. Yeah, that can be hard to do, but I'm proud of you for doing that. What have you learned? In this class and about podcasting and about consuming media, like one of the things I love every week is you guys would all do an analysis of a podcast and then you'd come in and we'd all talk about it. So the class is really about creating a podcast, but also consuming. Podcasts. What have you learned? I definitely liked the consuming stuff, like listening to my own podcast on my own time, because it really taught me like a lot more about like school and just like some life stuff just from listening to. Other people's experiences and their faith and like their day-to-day life. And then it helped me to create my podcast too, because it kind of shows me how they structured their podcasts and like how they kind of format it and how they did it. And tell us about it. What, what, what have you been working on. I'm running a game day gurus, which is like a. Which is like a sports podcast almost. So I do like an analysis on who I think will win. And then for fantasy, like what players I think will score well in points. So you can. When your fantasy league against your friends? Well, I can't wait to grade it. Yeah. Great. Well, thanks beckett thank you. who's coming up. All right. It's Cooper. so I just had the honor. Of being a guest on your podcast. Yup. And let's start, let's start with your podcast since everybody else has kind of left that for the end. this is so great because I'll let you explain it. But I really think young people today, the people say, what are you going to be when you grow up? And it's like, I don't know yet I'm only 15 or whatever. So you're kind of giving people an insight early into different careers. Yes. So I interview various people who all have different careers. I've interviewed. You on your past journalism career and my dad on his architecture career. And. I learn about it, but it provides insights on those careers. And various different questions. All having very relevant to today's kind of questions and problems with those careers. And other people can listen to see if they would like that job or should not go into that. What do you think is tough about being or great, maybe about being a teenager today? What I think is great is social aspect. It might be just me, but I think it's pretty easy to at least for a lot of teenagers, just to kind of, there's so many people around your age, especially at school, just to kind of branch out and hang out with people no matter. If there's senior softmore like any of that. And what's bad is. Other people have already said it, but like the pressures, everybody feels, whether it's like comparison to other people or anxiety about school and. I know, like the grade aspect, it used to be like a really hard for me. Cause I was like, I cannot get anything less than an, a. And I wouldn't ever get that in middle school, but it was middle school. It was really easy. And. I've just accepted the fact that that sometimes is unreasonable. And I have to go with the fact, especially with harder classes like honors or AP I just have to accept the fact that a B is higher than average for most kids. And I just think people need to learn that sooner than later, instead of having their mind set on only As, which is a good goal, but I don't think you should be like destroyed if you don't meet that goal. What do you think when you're an adult, you're going to look back. And, and be proud of yourself for in high school. I think I'm going to be proud of myself for really pushing myself through harder classes. Even if it's things I didn't do as well on, I think I'm going to be proud that I at least tried. And even if my grades didn't. Directly reflect like the best outcome. As long as I tried in that class, I think I'll be proud of that. Yeah. what is something as a teenager, you you appreciate about the adults in your life that they do to help with something for parents who are listening. Something that adults do that is good. Well, At first, especially when you have siblings, it's easy to compare yourself to them. And I think it's good. At least my mom and dad, especially on the grade aspects. They're like, you don't need to get what your brother and sister got. Like as long as you try your hardest and. They, and I think parents should know that kids can learn from stuff instead of like punishing them super harshly from one thing. I think they should push them to learn about that thing. They should definitely punish them, but. Not don't get as mad at them and stuff like that. And parenting individually, it sounds like. Like you might not be the same as your siblings and parents to that. Yeah. Yeah, love it. Who's left. Okay. Coleman. save the best for last, right? Yep. What do you think is tough about being a teenager or maybe great about being a teenager I mean, when a thing is like, tough is Kind of like the freedoms and stuff we get, like, especially with like technology and stuff. That's a big like, issue, like kids, like doing stuff they're not supposed to be doing on their phones and sending stuff. Like that's a big, Problem. And like, if we didn't have that, like kids could have more freedoms feel like the kids should just like, be more disciplined to like, no, That they shouldn't be doing whatever they're doing. Like if something bad. It's tough when it's right in your Palm of your hand. Sure. The access to it, Yeah. For sure. Yeah. So what advice would you have for parents in parenting that for teenagers? I mean, it's kind of just like. Knowing you, I know your kids doing on their phone. Like if they're doing something. Like just like discipline. I'm pretty much. It's a monitor. Yeah, what they're doing. Monitor sites they're on. All of that. Yeah. Like, or just like, don't do that. And then just do like a random like phone check every now and then He can't like go through and like clear everything and do all that stuff. Yeah. But to just be aware of it. Yes. For sure. What about being a Christian today as a teenager. You know, it's, it's tough in the world today and there's so much happening in the world today. what advice do you have either for teenagers or adults in parenting in a Christian way? And he's kind of just like the ignore, what other people say, just follow God again. That's like what it is. Can I think yet? Yeah. What about this class and what you've learned about media and consuming media and putting together your podcast. I enjoy the media classes a lot. Yeah. I like to do like visual arts, sports media and stuff like that too. But like I learned a lot from this podcast in class as well. Yeah. What, tell us about your podcast. So I made like a motivation podcast. Like it's not published, but I, and just wanted to talk about God and like how he can help you get through like your everyday and like some stories from the Bible that I can help you get through battles that like you don't think you can get through. We have a lot of anxiety and pressure and all of these things, how does faith help you with that? I mean, faith helps you get through reading the word, like you always know, like someone's going to love you because God always loves you. Yeah, Yep. Oh, certainly. Thank you. It's been such a pleasure having you guys. We had our party today. This was our year end party. And then I made them sit down and podcasts with cookies and hot chocolate. Thank you. I think you're okay. You guys, I'm proud of all of you. Yep. All right, we'll do this again next semester. Thanks for listening everybody.