How to Help Your Children Protect Themselves from Porn
You can build a wall, but the enemy will find a way over or under it. Pornography is the enemy of childhood and it’s targeting all children. So the best way to protect your child is to teach him/her self-defense.
The Heart & Body are Sacred
Teach kids to value their own purity in body and mind. It’s not just the words we say to children, they learn from how we live. Live as if your body is God’s temple; take good care of it through healthy eating and exercise because that teaches self-discipline and self-respect.
Teach your child that self-respect is caring about their mind, body, and heart. Growing up is a process of learning to be a self-disciplined, self-motivated, and productively creative person. Parents discipline their children with the hope that they will learn to discipline themselves. Help your child value himself, and value the growth process.
Treat other people with great respect too, after all, everyone is to be God’s temple. Show and tell your child how to respect and care about others. Avoid name-calling and bigoted remarks. Help your child learn how to treat others fairly, with consideration for the heart and value of each person as a child of God.
Media is a tool that can be used for good or bad
Anyone can become a couch potato, and it’s even easier to get addicted to video games. They are fun, and they can be very educational too. However, too much of a good thing often causes problems. Guide them to discipline their use of electronic devices, and make sure they have plenty of other active options.
You show your child how to use a kitchen knife so they can prepare food without getting cut. You teach them how to drive a car and do many other useful but dangerous things. So why not educate them about using media in a safe way as well?
One classic way parents try to protect their children is by teaching them not to talk to strangers. Tell them that people online are strangers, and some of those strangers will use and abuse people. Let them know there are bad places online that seem good at first, but it’s a nasty trick. Use software to protect where they can go online, but don’t rely completely on that.
Teach them about good and bad pictures (see video below).
Their response has to come from their own conscience
Parents are the ones who feed a child’s conscience. Your child can develop a strong conscience about purity and real love by being nourished in love. If a child sees their parents loving and caring for each other with respect, they will know what real love is. That doesn’t guarantee that porn won’t become a problem someday. However, it does create a foundation to know the difference between love and porn.
Whatever your child’s age, it’s never too early or too late to begin this conversation.
To learn more...
Check out School Of Love, our family-driven sex education curriculum.
Watch the video below and visit: protectyoungminds.org/prepare/
Be real with your kids. Go ahead and explain the dangers of porn:
It’s addictive
It’s violent and degrading
It teaches them an unhealthy attitude toward sex
Porn fuels sex abuse
It destroys families
A quick education on how porn is addictive: How Porn Use Becomes an Addiction