Parenting Today's Teens

Join Mark Gregston in this episode as he shares valuable insights on how parents can be present in their children's lives without being overbearing. He offers practical tips on how to engage in meaningful conversations with your teenager, fostering a stronger relationship built on trust and respect. Don't miss out on this empowering episode — listen now! Have a question for Mark? Submit it...

Teens don’t just wake up one morning full of maturity, good character and strong values — it’s our job as parents to sow and cultivate those seeds in our kids. In today’s episode, Mark Gregston and Wayne Shepherd discuss five practical ways you can build solid character in your home. Don’t miss out on this advice! Have you gotten your copy of Mark's newest devotional, "Daily Hope For Famil...

Asking good questions has a special way of creating real connections between people — it shows you're genuinely interested in their lives. The same is true for your teen. If you want to go deeper in your conversations with them than just the same old small talk, ask questions! In today's episode, Mark Gregston explains why questions are the key to unlocking a connection with your teen and...

Whether it's due to the impact of trauma or a battle with mental health, plenty of teens turn to drugs thinking they'll find a temporary escape from the pain in their lives ... but soon find themselves unable to get through life sober. In today's show, Mark Gregston sits down with two Heartlight teens who share their journeys out of drug addiction and reflect on their growth at the boa...

Making sure your teen understands their role and what is — and is not — expected of them can help your entire home run smoother. Have you taken the time to sit down and hold a family meeting about rules and consequences recently? In today's show, Mark Gregston and Wayne Shepherd share tips on how to set effective rules and boundaries that will help your teen mature while protecting your peace...

In today’s episode, Mark Gregston answers questions from parents who are exhausted and downright hurt by their teen’s constant lying. He explains why you should expect your kids to break your trust, and to look at those instances as teaching opportunities. By letting teens make their own choices and face the consequences of those decisions, they can learn to appreciate wisdom and good judgment. Do...

The internet isn’t just a way for your kid to reach out into the world, it’s also a way for the world to reach into your home. The need to monitor your teen’s phone activity is valid — but how are you to simultaneously grant them the privacy necessary to mature? In today’s episode, Mark Gregston and Wayne Shepherd provide practical tips to help parents strike the right balance between freedom and...

It's great to want and encourage your teen to perform well in school, work, sports and more, but if they fail, do they feel like they'll lose your love? Conveying your unconditional love to your teen is crucial to their wellbeing. In this episode, Mark Gregston shares a personal story of a teen that struggled with feeling like her value was performance-based and emphasizes why you should c...

It's not uncommon for hurting teens to develop methods of masking their pain from others — which means that even the happiest and bubbliest kids may be hiding how they really feel. In this episode, Mark Gregston talks to some Heartlight teens, including a young lady who was often all smiles, but behind the scenes, she was self-harming. Don't miss these insightful interviews! Do you have a...

The role of a grandparent in the life of a teen can be a very special one indeed — if they're willing to intentionally maintain the relationship. Remaining a relevant figure in a teenage grandchild's life is challenging, but not impossible! In today's episode, Mark Gregston and Wayne Shepherd discuss why grandparents are so important in a teen's life and share encouragement for the...

In today’s episode, Mark Gregston answers questions from mothers who want to know how to get their daughters off of their phones and out into the real world. He dives into the heart of screen time issues — connection. The desire of any teen’s heart is to be seen, validated and affirmed through relationships; if they aren’t finding adequate affirmation at home, they’ll seek it out just about anywhe...

A parent’s role is not to eliminate the pain in their child’s life, but to prepare them for the real world. Teens will choose their inappropriate behavior over and over until the pain that results from their choice surpasses the pleasure that it brings them. In today’s episode, Mark Gregston and Wayne Shepherd discuss the importance of not rescuing your kids so they might experience the pain of th...

There seems to be no end to the negativity in today's culture — teens are exposed to it through the news, their peers and social media every single day. So how can you, as a parent, teach them how to navigate this storm? In this special devotional, Mark Gregston shares his insights on how social media is impacting our teens' ways of communicating and why the negative culture can strain you...

Because of the internet and social media, today's teens have easier access to pornography than ever before. But do they realize the negative impact watching explicit content has on how they view the world? In today's show, Mark Gregston sits down with a couple more Heartlight teens, including a young man who speaks from the heart about how watching porn affected his life and skewed his vie...

In order to have a close relationship with your teen, you have to know what's going on in their world — and to do that, you need to make time for them! In today's show, Mark Gregston and Wayne Shepherd discuss when it's time to change your parenting approach and why it's important to carve out time in your family's busy schedule to spend one-on-one with your child. Tune in to h...

No one is ever fully prepared to be a parent; just when you think you’re getting the hang of it, everything changes. Like it or not, you should be growing and changing right alongside your kid. In today’s episode, Mark Gregston answers questions from parents who either want or need to learn how to engage with their teen in new ways. Don’t miss out, tune in now! Have a question for Mark? Submit it...

Part of our job as parents is to find a way to effectively pass our wisdom on to the next generation. In today’s world, however, kids have an overwhelming amount of access to content, making it hard for them to differentiate between information and wisdom. In today’s episode, Mark Gregston and Wayne Shepherd review tactics for successfully presenting wisdom to teens in a way that's interesting...

How do you want your kids to remember you? What about your grandchildren? It's important to keep in mind that the relationship you build with your teen today will also impact future generations. In today's episode, Mark Gregston shares why you should keep a big-picture perspective when it comes to the legacy you'll leave behind. Don't miss these thoughtful insights! To dive deeper...

In the cases of many teens who get into drugs at a young age, hindsight is definitely 20/20. Looking back, they often regret doing drugs in the first place. In today's episode, Mark Gregston talks with two high schoolers who are examining how substance abuse impacted their lives, including one young man who reflects on how his whole life spiraled in just two years because of drug use. Listen i...

There's no doubt about it, most teens love to argue. But the good news is that there ARE ways to have these difficult discussions with your teens that result in a good outcome. In this episode, Mark Gregston and Wayne Shepherd share seven ways to argue effectively with your teen — not with the goal of winning but reaching a mutual understanding. This is a great topic for all parents of teens,...

Parents have spent their lives acquiring wisdom, and any good parent has the desire to share their valuable lessons with their kids — but is there such a thing as too much advice? In today’s episode, Mark Gregston answers questions from parents who aren’t sure where to draw the line with their input. Tune in now to hear his advice! Have a question for Mark? Submit it here: https://markgregston.com...

The purpose of rules and consequences is to guide teens to where they want to go and to keep them from where they don’t want to end up. They do not serve to bring peace to our lives, but rather to build up a child’s character. In today’s episode, Mark Gregston and Wayne Shepherd discuss why parents must establish a relationship with their teen before successfully implementing authority, and how ru...

Both good and bad behaviors always have motivations behind them, and as a parent, it's your job to try to understand what's driving your teen to do what they do. Simply punishing external inappropriate actions won't fix the issues in your child's heart. In today's devotional episode, Mark Gregston explains some of the common drivers behind bad behavior and shares the story of a...

When many teens arrive at Heartlight, they're apprehensive about making new friends with other kids who come from very different backgrounds and locations. But these new friendships often grant them a fresh perspective on life and relationships. In today's episode, Mark Gregston chats with two Heartlight teens who both struggled with drug use and got into trouble with their friends back ho...

When it comes down to it, you can't protect your teen from everything — as much as you might like to! In order to be ready for adulthood, teens need to be exposed to the challenges of culture and the real world. In this episode, Mark Gregston and Wayne Shepherd talk about how you can shift your mindset to PREPARING your teen, instead of just protecting them. Don't miss this great discussio...