Raising Kids in a Clickbait Culture, Shaping Critical Thinkers, Encouraging Empathy, and Living in the Gray
The Intentional Parents Podcast
Intentional
4.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 1 October 2025
⏱️ 54 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, we dive into what it looks like to raise kids in today’s clickbait culture. With endless information at our fingertips, outrage-driven headlines everywhere, and our children frequently walking through traumatic national events, it can be hard to know what’s real, what matters, and what doesn’t. No matter how many boundaries we put in place, outside voices are loud — and that makes it more important than ever to raise critical thinkers who can stand against the noise.
Together, we explore what Scripture says about having a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7) and why this matters so much in a world full of half-truths and emotional extremes. We talk through how to help our kids not just think with the masses, but instead form opinions rooted in reality and truth. This means giving them space to wrestle, normalizing curiosity, and asking good questions to help them develop discernment and wisdom for themselves. It is an ongoing process — one that requires conversation after conversation, guided by the Holy Spirit.
We also look at practical tools: delaying social media use (based on Jonathan Haidt’s brilliant research), talking openly about tragedies and current events, and modeling what it looks like to think critically and empathetically. Along the way, we highlight how teaching kids to sit in the tension, see the gray, and understand others’ stories helps them grow in empathy — and ultimately shapes them into leaders with their own convictions.
You’ll also hear about the “3M Parent Trap” (model, mimic, mad) from Joey Odom and the importance of relying on God’s Spirit to do what we cannot in our own strength (1 Peter 1:14). Because without His power, all of this falls flat.
We wrap up with a look ahead to our upcoming episode: what to do when the time finally comes to give your kids technology. If you have questions or ideas you’d like us to cover, email us at hello@intentionalparents.org.
Scripture Mentioned: 2 Timothy 1:7, Proverbs 14:15, Philippians 1:9-10, Romans 12:2 + 1 Peter 1:14-16
Submit Questions: Send a voice recording to hello@intentionalparents.org, mentioning your name and where you’re from.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey friends, mark your calendars. The Intentional Motherhood Retreat is coming up October 23rd through 25th in Portland, Oregon. |
| 0:10.7 | It's a meaningful few days to slow down, connect, and refocus on what matters most in your motherhood journey. |
| 0:18.1 | Also some exciting news. Intention intentional fatherhood has officially launched on all |
| 0:22.2 | podcast platforms, including YouTube, so go subscribe, check out the first few episodes, and share it |
| 0:27.6 | with all the fathers in your life. For more details and registration info for the motherhood |
| 0:31.8 | retreat, you can go to intentional parents.org, or you can go check out our new website for fathers intentional fatherhood.org. |
| 0:43.5 | You're listening to the intentional parents podcast brought to you by intentional. |
| 0:48.7 | Intentional is all about spiritual formation in the family. |
| 0:52.5 | We desire to bring biblical hope and practical help. Enjoy this |
| 0:56.5 | week's conversation. Welcome back to the intentional parents podcast. Raising our kids in a |
| 1:08.5 | click bait culture. How do we know what's real? What's important? What's not? |
| 1:14.3 | How do we actually think through raising critical thinkers? How do we raise kids in an emotionally |
| 1:18.8 | driven outrage, loving culture? And what does the Bible actually call a sound mind? What does that |
| 1:24.6 | mean? That's the stuff we're going to touch on today. And couldn't be |
| 1:28.0 | more happy to do that with my co-host, my partner in life, my shoe matching wife. Hold on a second. |
| 1:35.5 | Elizabeth, hi. I hope you can see this on YouTube. We, we're matching today. |
| 1:41.3 | What happens the longer you're married, the more you match. It just happens. I'm fine to match with you. You are not fine to match with you. I'm not fine to match with you. If we, if we come out wearing something similar, I'm fine with it. You are not fine with it. It actually creates a lot of tension, especially when we speak together. If we're like, we actually have to |
| 2:01.1 | talk about this. Like, I mean, like right now. Like, we need to process this. No, but today, |
| 2:08.5 | really looking forward to this conversation. And thank you for everyone who's rated, |
| 2:12.1 | subscribe, left a comment. For those of you who have not left a comment yet, please do. It's |
| 2:16.7 | really helpful. Rating and |
| 2:18.7 | subscribing does wonders to get the word out about intentional to help families. We are a ministry |
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