May and June are so full of many important events and celebrations for youth and families. They may include confirmation, rites of passage for students (including proms, music concerts, sports award night, or graduation), Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, end of the year parties, and let’s not forget finals.
Many of these occur during a weekend. This usually means that my youth and their families are not attending church or youth group much during these months. This can cause a lot of conflict for the families and for us.
The New York Times posted a column asking students age 13 and older to share their experiences of rites of passage. A few things leapt out at me as I read their responses:
We’re honoring our high school seniors this Sunday. I know it seems early, but a lot of schools have graduations in May and by June many of them are already gone on trips or camps or whatever. So although it may seem early to recognize graduating seniors, it’s actually good to do it early rather than miss the window of opportunity.