February 29th, 2016 by Zac

This is not an easy topic to speak publicly about. But every person these days is being affected by the wave of pornography that has swept over our world in the last 20 years.

I believe every parent should assume that by the age of 6, their child (especially boys) has been exposed to pornography. Our “good” missionary kids are no exception. We have already had pornography related issues with each of our children. Because inappropriate sexual images are everywhere – magazines, TV, movies, google images, websites, advertisements, video games, Facebook to name a few.  So we have adopted a kind of “under siege” posture in our family as we face the overwhelming presence of pornography in our society.

Beyond the normal healthy relationship kind of practices, here are some of our attempts at pornography prevention and protection.

– We admit that this is not just a children’s issue. Parents are tempted and attacked just like they are. And that we are all in this battle together. As a team, we fight for purity.

– We talk about sex and sexuality often. I like what I recently heard from Josh McDowell. He asked one kid, “when did you first talked to your parents about sex?” And the kid said, “I don’t remember, because my parents always talked to us about sex.” So, in our family, we try to make healthy, educational, realistic talk about sex and sexuality a normal part of family conversations.

– We try to give our kids a regular diet of hugs, kisses, back scratches, hand holding and other healthy touch.

– All gaming and internet devices are used in our living room area and not in the privacy of bedrooms or other places. And no devices are protected by secret passwords. So, devices are not private. They are subject to parental oversight at any time.

– No one watches TV or movies alone.

– Every device and computer has Internet blocking software.

– We regularly ask our kids about how the pornography battle is raging at school, with their friends, in the classroom and other typical areas that there might be temptation.

In the end, we know we can’t completely protect our kids from the world. Nor do we want to. But we believe we can keep them from being unprepared and overwhelmed when they face this destructive parts of our world.