We are always trying to teach our children about the world: the good and the bad. We want them to be safe, knowledgeable, and to make informed decisions. Hopefully, we are teaching them about right and wrong along the way as well!
This last week for our Family Home Evening, we talked about Pornography. We have talked about it before, but we find it important to talk about these things often in our home. We showed them the video (see below) “What should I do when I see Pornography?” and we read from the book Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids
The Good Pictures Bad Pictures book and the video helped open up a wonderful discussion with all our kids. They were talking about things at school and were asking lots questions (not just about Pornography). We have kids age 2 – 12, and we thought it was appropriate for all ages. Even the 5-year-old was asking questions. I love getting a good discussion as a family going!
I love having great resources that help us communicate and talk to our kids about important subjects like this. It helps start the conversation, explains things well, and helps really bring the point home of how important these things are to avoid. Getting our kids to open up, talk, and really ask questions is what it is all about. Open communication and them knowing they can come talk to us about any problems or issues they are having is so very important!
We found these to be great resources to help combat and approach the issue of pornography. We also have instituted rules like:
- All of our computers are in open areas of the home. Our family computer is in our family room – anyone can see what you are doing on the computer.
- They are not allowed to be on their phones/tablets in their rooms. The must be in a family area, our bedroom with us, etc. (not in places where the door can be shut/they can be alone in private)
- We do not allow them to shut their bedroom doors (especially if friends are over) unless they are dressing, etc. of course.
That is not a comprehensive list, but we find it important to keep them safe from the things that can be found online, at least in our home. We do not keep the internet from them (in fact, they are on there often), but we don’t have to give them free range with it either! We are well aware they can find these things if they want to. But hopefully, with teaching lessons like this in the home, they will have the resources to deal with them, know what they should do, and know they can come to us with any problems or complications they run into out in the world.
We highly recommend both the video and the book to help start and facilitate this important conversation with your kids. I have a degree in Psychology, and I find these resources so important for teaching! It is never too early to start talking to your kids and keeping them safe.
