Building a strong work ethic by raising expectations is one way to help prepare your teenage grandchildren for success. Hopefully, in Part 1 you found some helpful ideas for doing that, or at least, you were stimulated to come up with your own ideas. Now, let’s turn our attention to other ways we can help prepare teen grandchildren for successful living.

Regardless of your situation, as a grandparent you are in a unique position to say things and do things with your grandchildren that may not receive from their parents. This week I want to suggest two more ways to build on this unique opportunity to help your teen grandchildren succeed:

2. Expose them to thing that will help them discover potential skill areas they may not realize they have.

We remember the days without computers when digital technology did not consume our world as it does today. We knew how to change the oil in our car, replace a spark plug, fix a leaky faucet, darn socks, and bake a pie from scratch. Today we simply go online and find a specialist to do those things we used to do for ourselves.

Have your grandchildren learned how to fix things around the house themselves, or do something that requires some skill they have never tried before? You can teach them those things, and in doing so unveil potential in them they might not have discovered otherwise.

I often talk about ‘teachable moments’ described in Deuteronomy 6. Creating a list of things we can teach our grandchildren to do around the house is a great way to build meaningful relationship and utilize these ‘teachable moments’. This will be especially effective if we are paying attention to even subtle ways God may have wired them. It might have to do with art, science, organizing, mechanical skills, sewing, or design of some kind.

Pay attention to the things you observe in them that point to latent skills and talents they may have never used. Sitting in front of a computer monitor or GameBoy will not present them with the opportunity to discover those skills. It’s possible they will learn something about themselves that might point them in a different direction than college—perhaps a trade or technical school—that is a much better fit for them.

Proverbs 13:22 says, “A good [righteous] man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” What better inheritance could you leave than how to succeed by discovering and developing the skills God has given to fulfill His purposes for them?

3.  Help your teen grandchildren vanquish a sense of entitlement.

Many teens (and older adults) believe they are entitled. They believe they are owed an education, a second chance, a passing grade, the latest technology, their own bedroom, an allowance, a job, freedom to choose…the list goes on and on. Like the seagulls in the Disney film Finding Nemo that constantly squawked, “Mine! Mine!” we are part of a culture with that same mentality.

Jesus said, “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap” (Lk. 6:38). He also told His disciples, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mk. 9:35). Not exactly the mantra of entitlement, is it? So how do we help our teen grandchildren escape this entitlement bondage?

Here are a few ideas:

1. Invite them to join you in an on-going ministry among the ‘least of these’. It could be the homeless, the fatherless, tutoring children, or volunteering to work with special needs children. Teach them to give rather than demand. Show them what it means to be servant of all.
2. Start a Six Pack group and include your teenage grandson or granddaughter. A Six Pack is a group of six people representing six stages of three generations (young adult, middle adult and elder adult) meeting together to learn how to grow toward full maturity in Christ as servants of all. For more information about Six Packs write me and I’ll send you a more detailed description.
3. Instead of sending the typical Christmas gift you buy for them, consider sending a small, but practical gift and include a check for whatever amount you choose, but enough that they could do these two things:

1. Ask them to use 50% of the cash gift to bless someone else. It could be a homeless person or family, it could be a neighbor, another family member, or a complete stranger somewhere. Let them choose how to use it, but they must use it to bless someone else and then report back to you what they did.
2. The remaining 50% is to be used however they want. If there is something they really want, they can apply it toward that purchase, but only after the first 50% has been invested in someone else.

Use your creativity to help you teen grandchild learn to vanquish the entitlement thinking that is so prevalent today. When we learn to be servant of all, we will really discover what it means to be blessed. Grandparents, you need to model this servant heart for your grandchildren. After all, you cannot give what you do not have.

May God bless you and lavish His wisdom upon you as you seek to help you teenage grandchildren walk in the truth.