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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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Three Signs You Are Exploiting People
In 2021, Simone Biles made headlines during the Tokyo Olympics when she stepped away from the competition for mental health reasons. While most responses I saw were understanding, encouraging, and even empowering, there were plenty of people that seemed to take personal offense to her decision. How dare she. She was called a quitter, selfish, even a sociopath. Christian commentator, Matt Walsh, called her an embarrassment and “in some ways an appropriate representation of a country that has gone soft.” Oof. Several times as I’ve read news articles and comments on social media of people expressing their disappointment and chastising her, I’ve wanted to remind them that she doesn’t owe…
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What Does Freedom From Pornography Look Like?
So many Christian women write in saying they want freedom from pornography. Here’s my question for them (for you): what does that look like? On a road trip recently, I stopped by my mother’s house. Every time, without fail, she hands me something of mine that she found while going through boxes in her basement. This time, she handed me a bag and as I went through it, I found a tiny notepad. I caught a glimpse of the first page: “Dear God, Tonight I’m fighting, struggling…” I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment. What had I written? Had she read it all? What does she know? Yes, I share…
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Resources for Helping Pastors Address Pornography
(Updated August 2023) As we wrap up the Porn in Church series, I wanted to round up some resources for pastors. Before I do that, though, I wanted to offer this quick word of encouragement and “advice” if I may. It is very important for you to realize when you’re in over your head. Pastors and ministry leaders have a unique position of being the “go to” person for the people in their care. Rebellious teenager? Go to the pastor. Struggling with an eating disorder? Ask the leader for help. Some leaders get drunk off that power trip and love pretending to be the source of answers for everything and…
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Resource Review: We Too by Mary DeMuth
The purpose of this blog isn’t just to address women struggling with pornography, but really to change the conversation about women and sexuality in the church. How does grace impact our struggles and intersect with our wounds? How can the church immitate the love and grace of God while addressing things like sexual addiction, sexual identity, and sexual abuse? Since I just finished up the series addressing porn in the church, I wanted to highlight a resource that addresses another issue in the church: Sexual abuse. As a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of someone in my church, this is something I hold dear. I’ve written about it…
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Pastors, How You Preach About Sex Matters.
Pastor, let me ask you a question. How do you talk about sex in church? Better yet, do you talk about sex in church? The longer I am at this, the more I am convinced that how we, as Christians, talk about sex matters. We idolize virginity. For decades, the church at large has adopted a mindset solely focused on purity. When I was a teenager, purity pledges and purity rings were all the rage. But purity was really just a Christian way to say “abstinence.” Our message about sex was “don’t you dare do it before you’re married. If you do, you are forever marked. Your spouse will be…
