Our kids are being handed powerful ideas about who they are, what will make them happy, and what it means to be free and most of those ideas arrive without anyone announcing themselves as a lesson. Michael Keller joins Ginny Yurich to unpack the cultural stories hiding inside everything from Disney movies and social media to the phrases “follow your heart” and “you do you,” and why some of our most well-intentioned messages can leave kids exhausted by the pressure to create and prove their own identity.
They talk about the surprising limits of freedom, why real love always costs us something, what AI companions can never give our children, and how parents can help kids recognize the messages they’re absorbing without becoming fearful of the culture around them.
Michael also shares the deeply personal story behind The Stories We Live By, the book he began with his late father, Timothy Keller, and the enduring alternative they offer to a life built on performance: an identity that is received rather than achieved.
Get your copy of The Stories We Live By here
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