Hey, friends. Welcome to the Raising Boys and Girls podcast. I'm Sissy Gough. And I'm David Thomas. And I'm Melissa Trevathan. And we're so glad you joined us for this conversation. Let's dive in.

David.

Sissy Gough. I am so excited that we're finally sitting down to do this. We have been talking about doing this for a long time.

Yes, we have because things have changed so much. Yes, they have.

In the lives of girls, in the lives of boys and the lives of parents. And so for us to think about the stages of girls and boys development and who they are and what they need it really is different and how we need to lean in with them. And so I am so excited for us to be updating this content.

I know me too. And you know, it's fun to even think about what's change and what hasn't that's something we're going to talk about all throughout that there are so many things that are so different than when you and I first started teaching.

On boys and girls over 20 years ago. And there are some foundational things about development that have not changed one bit, you know, I think kids still need the exact same amount of sleep today that they needed a hundred years ago and they will need a hundred years from now.

And they still need relationships. They still need to move their bodies like some of those foundational things are the same and it'll be fun throughout this series for us to talk about the things that are the same and the things that are different.

And at the same time, yes, anxiety is on the rise depression, so many mental health issues and and how we engage with them.

Just if we even just took out technology and how much it's changed in the last five years, those things are different. So yes, it's both things maybe I can represent the new you can represent the old.

I think that's exactly where we need to land in that decision, but you know, as we move into this, sissy, now I want to say clearly on the front side, we're going to travel through five stages of development.

We're going to talk about who kids are in each stage and what they need and anytime we speak on development, we are always wanting to say, hold these ages and stages loosely because every kid is going to move at their own pace.

They're going to travel at their own acceleration and you are going to see evidence of where kids are straddling stages sometimes and that's super common, even where they will have one foot and one stage one and another and then kind of step back and then step forward again.

So these categories are ones that we've created that we think can be helpful for parents and educators and grandparents and coaches to really understand some unique things happening in certain moments of their development.

And all of this within the beauty of Psalm 139, I love that passage so much where it talks about how we were made in the secret place and all of the ways that God designed us in those earliest moments of our development and the truth of the matter is that that's true all throughout development.

He designed very specific intentional things to be happening uniquely in each stage and it's just our job as adults who love kids to lean into those specific unique things and that's what we're so excited about talking about throughout this whole entire season.

And we need to say that not only are we going to be talking about it, but we have invited some incredible guests who are going to be a part of this season that we're so excited about.

We are so excited some of our favorite experts folks who have so much wisdom and insight to these unique ages and stages and then.

That have really shaped a lot of our work with kids absolutely folks we've quoted on our books that we're so excited we get to have conversations with and you all gave us such amazing feedback around how much you enjoyed our including parents and the trenches parents who are in the very moments that we're describing that we are going to bring that back.

And we're going to invite in some really wise thoughtful voices who are going to talk about not just the ideas we're discussing in terms of what's going on, but what does that look like in the moment, how do you put feet to these action items that we're going to be talking around and so we're super excited about that.

And we're going to have some additional resources on our website that you can dig a little deeper with not just questions that you could use with a small group, but also devotionals that you can use throughout the week for each stage.

So make sure you head over to raise and boys and girls calm where you can download some of that material too.

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