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Choices Choices
By Administrator | December 10, 2006
After working with children and youth from Christian families for more than 20 years I have witnessed some clear patterns. Two parenting styles regularly fail to bring children to maturity in Christ.
First is the parent who forbids nearly everything. Can’t have that game system, can’t listen to any music, can’t watch movies, and can’t watch TV. These parents attempt to isolate their children with the belief that if they don’t come in contact with evil, the idea of sin will never come to them. But, honestly, there are a few major flaws with this thinking. The sinful ideas do come to them because we are all sinful by nature. Besides that, no one in our media saturated culture can live in a vacuum without exposure, not even the Amish.
The second parenting style which is likely to fail is where parents don’t stop their children from watching, listening, or doing anything. “They are going to see this stuff eventually,” they reason, “so why fight, just let them see it.” Parents who take this route eventually understand why both Old and New Testament are filled with warnings on viewing nakedness, entertaining those in the occult and keeping company with sinful people. Over exposed children rarely grow up to be Christians.So what is a parent to do? If we should not allow our children to be exposed to rude, violent, sex saturated media then how do we prevent ourselves from becoming the first type of parent, always saying “no?”
There is a way. There are answers! You can provide safer movies and television choices, a safe internet experience as well as regulate video games. Here are some suggestions to get you started. First, seriously limit cable. We cancelled our cable and put in DishFamily Satellite. It is a collection of 40 stations that are “family friendly.” Let me be honest here, you still have to monitor these stations and what is on them, but gone are MTV and other music stations, gone is SPIKE TV and a host of inappropriate stations – and gone is the high price. If you are not willing to be that drastic then learn how to block these channels.
Second, buy Christian or clean, family oriented movies. After years of searching here and there my wife and I have found three wonderful sources!Christian Cinema. Here you will find one of the best collections of Christian and family oriented movies I have ever seen!
Nest Video. This is a collection of educational and family videos. We purchased many of these when our children were young.
Christian Book Distributors. Ellen and I have been purchasing from Christian Book Distributors for over 20 years. They have a great selection of books, music and DVDs at the best prices we have seen.
Third, clean up the non-christian movies you are willing to allow your children do see. Ellen and I purchased a small box that blocked swear words. But now with modern technology you can get something much, much better. You can purchase a special DVD player which not only eliminates crude language but many types of inappropriate scenes. Check out the ClearPlay DVD player.
Finally, if you have internet access you must get a good, high level filter. Children are very technologically savvy. One parent told me they set a password on their computer. Later, their third grader was playing on the computer. “How did you get on?” she asked. “I clicked the ‘help’ and knew the answer to your password question,” the third grade proudly announced. Don’t depend on simple passwords or basic filters. Don’t even depend on services like AOL or Yahoo DSL settings. Get a secure filter. You can get more information of secure filters at http://cyber.colossians2.com/index_files/filters.html
Parents, let me challenge you to help your children mature in their faith by making wise choices for gift purchases this Christmas. You don’t have to burn your TV and head for the solitary hills. Instead, make sure that what you placed in front of your children will help buildup and not tear down your child’s faith.
Have a wonderful Christmas!May God’s grace and peace be with you,
Mark Strohm, Jr.
Topics: From Mark, Parenting | 1 Comment »
December 11th, 2006 at 12:25 am
Excellent article, Mark! It’s full of great information. If you don’t mind, I’d like to link to it from my blog.
Blessings to you and yours,
-bill