We’ve been getting a lot of speaker requests lately from people like you who want information about both our youth and parent presentations.

And with the school year already most of the way over (it is!), schools and parents are already thinking about their kids being left alone with their digital devices all summer!

So, I just wanted to take a quick minute and kind of explain what the Above The Fray approach is all about, what our goals are, and what we cover in the presentation.

We have two presentations. We have a parent presentation, which is what we built first and what we’ve been offering for a couple of years now.

We’ve also recently developed a youth presentation. The core topics we cover are similar, but they’re definitely targeted to their specific audiences.

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Ideally, we are able to share our message with students during the day and then do a parent presentation that evening. Our goal is to give students and parents information, and then to create meaningful and ongoing conversations at home.

So, what did we talk about?

The first portion of the presentation establishes the issues and challenges. We talk about the pitfalls, the common mistakes, and their consequences.

The second part of the presentation is about solutions. We dive into the heads of parents and young people to establish context and perspective. Then we help solve the issues, offering specific solutions.

And, yes, we talk about cyberbullying, social media, sexting, online pornography, gaming, and more. It’s a lot to go through an hour. And it’s all important.

We look at the big picture and we focus on communication.

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My fear is that oftentimes we get myopic with these conversations. Schools, churches, and community groups bring in someone from law enforcement or from the DA’s office, and they end up doing a ‘scared straight’ kind of program, or it’s just a bunch of ‘don’t do this’ and ‘don’t do that.’

Or maybe they just talk about sexting or cyberbullying. That’s great. Those are fantastic conversations we need to be having. But what the way I look at those is it’s almost like a seatbelt safety awareness campaign or a drunk driving awareness campaign. Those are lifesaving messages, but those are just two aspects of operating a vehicle safely. What we really need to be doing is stepping back and looking at this as a whole. Here’s what’s going on in the digital universe and here’s how you – student – you mom – you dad – you guardian – you teacher – you coach – you grandparents can help.

If it’s something you’re interested in a little more information about, just let us know. We’ll talk about the different opportunities via in person or the virtual presentations that we’re offering as well.

Thomas Dodson

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