Our children are growing up in a digital age with unparalleled access to technology. With these wonderful advances, comes a heavy responsibility we cannot ignore as parents. The access to pornography and sexual images and videos is everywhere and the age of children viewing them is going down.
But there is hope. My guest Ashley Januszewski is all about empowering parents to protect their children by talking candidly with them about God’s plan for their bodies and sex from an early age. We talk about everything from sexting and pornography to device control and screen time limits. She shares great resources for how to start these conversations with your children at any age.
It’s our job as parents, though this is the reality. Not to throw our hands in the air. It is our responsibility just like it is to buckle our children when we get in the car. So it’s our responsibility to virtually buckle up our children…. It’s everywhere. So it starts and ends with training the heart and equipping our kids. What to do when (not if) they are faced with this avalanche of filth. What do we do? We’ve got to talk about it.
What we chat about:
- The story behind Ashley’s pursuit of information on parenting children in the digital age
- Eleven is the average age for exposure to pornography in America.
- Fear and anxiety can be signs that a young child has been exposed to something sexually inappropriate.
- The coming of age experience today in 2018 looks radically different than what we experienced as kids.
- There aren’t the natural barriers that used to exist to pornography. Now it is anonymous, accessible and affordable to anyone.
- Our responsibility as parents to minimize exposure to pornographic material
- 40 percent of teenagers today in America say that sending sexual or naked photos or videos is part of everyday life for them.
- Make a plan for when and how you will introduce digital technology to your children
- A family mantra or mission statement can help you stay centered on the truth of God in a world that is dominated by opinions
- How screen time is affecting kids’ brains and hours spent on screens by tweens and teens
- Teaching young children about the dignity and value bodies which can lead to wider conversations
- Humanizing explicit images and an example of how to talk to your kids when you encounter them
- Avoiding shame or blame when it comes to sexual images to keep the lines of communication open
- Solutions for an Internet safer home- control the location of devices, control at the router and control on the devices
- Sexting and child pornography laws and the importance of reporting
Links Mentioned:
- Mary Flo Ridley “When to have the Talk”
- Grace-Based Discipline :: Karis Kimmel Murray [Ep 150]
- Theology of the Body for Kids:
- Pornography Jimmy and Josh Myers Ep 162
- Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids **
- Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr.: A Simple Plan to Protect Young Minds **
- https://www.pcmag.com/roundup/342731/the-best-parental-control-apps-for-your-phone
- https://protectyoungeyes.com/
- Screens and Teens by Kathy Koch**
**Amazon affiliate link
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I’m listening to this on my phone now and had to come tell you, I thought that the Youtube kids was a better choice for my son until I saw the things it was opening up for him. “Kids” doesn’t mean safe.
Thanks for doing this! I wish I could get more people, especially those in the Christian community to open their eyes about the dangers of technology and the need for early and continuing talks about pornography. I am still finishing up this episode, but was talking to my husband about it and saw you shared a link for Protect Young Eyes, thank you! My husband is a presenter for them, and was severely impacted by pornography at a young age and then all throughout his adult years (praise the Lord he is living recovery now!) we are obviously big fans of Protect young eyes and all the amazing materials, reviews, etc that they have, so I appreciate the mention of them.
I love Protect Young Eyes. Tell your husband thank you for all his hard work to live a life of purity (and God bless you for supporting him on his journey toward Christ and healing). Thank him for sharing hope and also for teaching a way to equip our own children through his job/mission. Awesome. What an amazing organization. It blesses me. And thanks for listening to the podcast! —Ashley
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I am a single dad who listens to your podcast because of the great parenting resources.
I also am an ex-husband who lost his marriage as a result of internet porn. Thank you for being willing to broach the subject of porn and its easy, anonymous access with today’s technology. I grew up in the days when porn was not as pervasive as it is today and I still wound up with enough of a problem that I lost my marriage. My heart hurts for today’s kids and how rampant it is, and how easy it is to find and to be exposed to. Please continue to teach people how to fight this.