For Parents
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How I’m Talking to my Toddlers About Sex and Pornography
For years, I stood on stages and gave parents advice on how to talk to their kids about sex and pornography. “It’s not a one-time conversation.” “You have to talk to them once you give them access to the internet because pornography is a predator.” “Use anatomically correct words.” “Don’t be embarrassed.” It’s really easy to say it when you’re the “expert” teaching parents. But I blushed the first time I had to use anatomically correct words to answer my daughter’s questions about her body. I hid the book Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr on our office bookshelf. The day my girls discovered it, I literally sat on it until…
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Three Things I Wish Parents Understood About Their Kids and Porn
When it comes to kids and sex ed, there seems to be a lot up for debate. But I think if there’s one thing I think many people could agree on, it’s the fact that no young child should be exposed to pornography. In fact, the deliberate exposure of a child to sexual material is a form of child abuse. Most parents don’t want their five, six, seven, or even ten year old exposed to adult content. What that tends to result in, in many Christian families, are parents who pretend like pornography doesn’t exist. They put what they feel are necessary safeguards in place to protect their home and…
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How Do I Protect My Child from Pornography? Resources for Parents
If you’re a parent in this digital age, you may be wondering, “How do I protect my child from pornography?” or “What do I do when my child has seen pornography?” This question is especially important as children are around technology and the internet for hours every day, especially those in school. Just how easy is it for children to find pornography? I’m glad you asked! But, you’re asking the wrong question. Stop assuming that your child has to be the one looking for pornography. Instead, ask yourself how easy is it for pornography to find your child. No parent wants to imagine that their kindergartener is going to go…
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Porn and Parenting: How to talk to Your Child about Porn
As part of the Porn and Parenting Series, I reached out to my friend, Chris, at Protect Young Eyes. PYE shows “families, schools, and churches how to create safer digital spaces. Through a pretty great website, super fly presentations, and a unique learning app for parents who have ZERO free time.” Chris’s approach to porn as a parent is refreshing and unique. He believes that your kids don’t need controlled, they need coached, and it’s an approach that I believe is hugely effective. This content originally appeared at Protect Young Eyes and has been republished by Beggar’s Daughter with permission. Parents, this blog post will require around 7 minutes of your time – 7…
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The Best Age to Begin Talking to Kids About Pornography
As part of this Porn and Parenting series, I wanted to reach out to some friends who are experts in teaching parents how to talk to their kids about pornography. Today’s post is from Kristen Jenson, author of Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids and Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr: A Simple Plan to Protect Young Minds; producer of the Brain Defense (TM): Digital Safety curriculum; Founder of ProtectYoungMinds.org (now DEFEND Young Minds!); owner and CEO of Glen Cove Press, LLC. I’ve had to privilege of presenting alongside Kristen at several events and have seen her heart for protecting young kids from the effects of pornography. Her book…
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How Pornography Affected My Journey as a Mom
Over the years, I’ve tried to be very honest about how my struggle with pornography has impacted different seasons of my life. It affected me while single, and then even in marriage, and now, I’ve noticed, even in motherhood. If you’re a woman who struggles or struggled with pornography, I don’t share this to freak you out or discourage you, but just to keep things real. I share with you things that would have helped me if people had shared them with me. I have to say I didn’t think that my years of struggle with pornography would affect my role as a mom. It made sense to me that…
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Five Ways I Plan to Protect My Daughter from Pornography
As parents, there are many things we want to protect our children from, but how do we actually protect them from pornography? A few months after my husband and I were married, I found out I was expecting our first child. We soon learned I was carrying a little girl. The news completely surprised me. I always felt I would be better suited as a boy mom and my husband comes from a family of 7 boys and 1 girl, so I just imagined a future full of snakes, sticks, and ER trips. I felt entirely unprepared for pink, frilly dresses, and bows. The prospect was terrifying. But there was…
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(Why You Need to) Talk to Your Kids About Sex
I’ve said it for a while, “Whoever tells your kids about sex first is who they will listen to.” Of course, I know that’s very daunting, especially for Christian parents. For whatever reason, Christian parents in general have a really (and I mean really) hard time talking to their kids about sex. There’s this desire to hold out for as long as possible, with some parents not even talking with their kids at all… ever. A couple years ago, my old youth pastor contacted me and asked me for some advice. He was getting ready to talk with the youth group about sex and pornography, and had found out through…
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“Boys Will Be Boys” is Killing our Men
Where do I even start? The past few weeks have been filled with sexual assault in the news. There was the case of the high school student in Florida who had sex with several boys in the high school bathroom while dozens more watched. As a former teacher, that got under my skin. I’ve had students sneak away and have sex though. Yes, even at a Christian school. But this? The Stanford rape case? Is making my blood boil. Few things in life get me fired up, but raping a drunk stranger in an alley, behind a dumpster? And then passing it off like she wanted it, like she liked…
