freshbytes

The main reason there haven’t been many updates lately is because I just haven’t had the time. Freshbytes seems to work all the time, so it’s not because we’ve had huge amounts of downtime or anything, it’s just cos I’ve been super busy on a Sunday night.

Unsurprisingly, it’s all my fault. I’ve volunteered to do verious tasks that mean my Sunday nights aren’t as free as I would like them to be – combine this with other blogging commitments, and you’ve got one hell of a mess…

So, what have I been up to lately?

Well, the Radi8 Youth website idea fell over. It’s gone. No more. In what I would call a smart move, they decided that social media was the way to go – hence why they chose to make a Facebook Group and Myspace page (which I haven’t yet found), instead of a dedicated website. I can totally understand why they would choose to do so – it means far less work for me, but also means I get less say in what/how things get run. Which isn’t altogether a bad thing, I’ll let you know – sometimes, it’s nice to just let things “flow”. If you’re interested, you can hit up the Facebook group.

I’ve got to ask the question – what about those Radi8er’s who don’t (or simply aren’t allowed) to use social media? It’s not uncommon for kids to be banned from “unnecessary” internet usage, let alone social media sites, considering the amount of bad press sites such as Facebook and Myspace get… Will those kids “miss out” on updates because of it?

It’s late, so I’ll leave you to ponder that in your own time, but think about it – social media. Good or bad?

written by Benny Ling \\ tags: bad, do, good, media, radi8, social, things, time, youth

Short and sweet tonight, fellas. The way it should be, in my opinion!

So the story goes something like this:

I was at church today, helping out with sunday school as I’ve been doing (rather inconsistently, I must admit) for the past couple of years.

We were talking about King Solomon, who asked for wisdom when God asked him what he wanted. Great man, King Solomon.

Anyways, out of the blue, a little girl suddenly comes out of nowhere, and says:

“I was at a thing the other night… a-a-nd there were lots of drunk people fooling about… a-a-nd shirts were being ripped and…”

Of course, us leaders are stunned for a fraction of a second. The guy that’s taking the sunday school class recovers promptly, however, and manages to state: “Well, that’s not very nice, is it?” A rather generic response, but kudos to him for deflating the situation.

It got me thinking, though. Obviously the girl (who would only be in grade 4, mind you) had witnessed some sort of drunken party where the adults were acting in a far-from-responsible manner. I mean, seriously – a child shouldn’t have to see things like that.

Hence, Impressionable Young Children. Today’s title was inspired by how little children, who, like the girl at the drinking party, can be influenced by those around them. Their parents influence them. People older than them influence them. Which is why we need to be careful about what we say (and do) around young kids.

A guy named Dean (former leader of Radi8 youth) once told me that he had to tell bogans on the bus to tone down their language as he had his kids with him – which was perfectly acceptable. Had I been in his shoes, I probably would have done the same thing.

It’s those kinds of things that make impressions on the children of our generation. The swearing, the drunken behaviour, the bad behaviour exhibited by adults and those older than the childern. I’m not trying to be sarcastic when I say “Won’t someone think of the children?”

There’s no reason we should swear, or be drunk around our children. Absolutely no reason at all – and to be frank, it’s downright unacceptable. I for one don’t want my kids to be exposed to that sort of behaviour, at the very least not until they’re old enough to understand it properly. There’s no way that girl would have known that what was going on at that party was just something that adults do from time to time, and no way to know that alcohol can make smart people do stupid things.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that we should show a good example to our kids. Don’t swear around them and don’t expose them to bad influences. Understand this – I’m certainly not saying that you should mamby-pamby your children – far from it. Let them learn from their own mistakes (see how hot fire is?), but don’t expose them to things that they ordinarily wouldn’t be exposed to, like random drunken behaviour.

Comments below.

written by Benny Ling \\ tags: bad, behaviour, children, example, good, impressionable, influence, kids, young