I'm re-posting my post about the annual "Building Strong Families" post from a couple years back.
Because it's coming up again THIS WEEKEND and I'm sure it will be pretty amazing...all kinds of tips and resources for "fighting the new drug" which is pornography.
And my thoughts are exactly the same as they were back then, so here you go:
I believe with all my heart in something very simple: strong families are the building blocks of society.
If we can create strong families, we have built-in units to raise up the future with love and compassion. With strong families we can survive so much of the craziness that goes on in the world around us. And parenting is key in this. (I wrote all about my strong feelings on this in a semi-controversial blog post back HERE if you'd like to read it.)
I believe that our world is a good one. There are so many wonderful people striving to do what is right and light. But there is also much darkness and corruption in the world that we need to be aware of and fight against. If we don't take a strong stand for families and raising our children to be the best they can be, it is so easy to slip a little here or a little there until we are in the darkness and we wonder how in the world we got there. It's so easy to think "oh I guess that is ok because the other neighbor kids are doing it and I trust their parents," or "I guess that television show is ok, not exactly my standards but kind of funny..." blah blah blah.
If we all slip quietly down the slippery slope making excuses for not looking up and going the other direction, it doesn't take long to let go of a few things here and there that we realize too late that we should have held a vice grip on.
Deliberate parents can raise up children to be noble leaders, to make good choices, to be honest in all their dealings, to not be ashamed to push a different direction from that often slippery slope of justifications.
But it's not usually the easy road.
And often not the popular one either.
There is a conference this weekend with a goal is to fight pornography. And sometimes it seems that pornography is taking over the world.
There are all kinds of statistics that show how pornography breaks up families. It is heart-breaking. It is powerful. And I believe it's one of the strongest powers of the adversary. I mean, really, if you wanted to break up a strong family unit, how smart is it to aim something tantalizing and addicting at a poor teenage boy who's curious hormones are raging? Or at a husband who is tired and wants a little excitement? And I'm not leaving women out...I know the statistics of women viewing pornography is growing quickly too. Yes, if you wanted to break up a family, the pornography option sure is a smart one I tell you.
This is one of the biggest reasons we sat down and made up a "technology contract" for our kids last year. (You can find that back HERE.) We are in unchartered territory with all this technology because it's bombarding us from every angle and we didn't grow up with it so it's so hard to know the best way to deal with it.
I'm so excited to see what all these people have to say about it all this weekend. I'll take any advice I can get. There is also much more information HERE (interesting "5 simple truths" there) and HERE (resources and tips for critical conversations).
Us parents need to have deliberate, sometimes seemingly awkward talks with our kids. ALL THE TIME. We need to have open communication with them and let them know WHY. The ins and the outs. And we need to be loving about it but also very blunt. I believe in that with all my heart. So boy howdy are Dave and I ever trying. We never want to look back and say, "oh man, why weren't we open with our kids about that? Why didn't we have the guts to discuss it?"
My parents spoke at that conference a couple years ago and it was pretty awesome. I wrote my thoughts about that back HERE.
We missed it last year since we were in China, but I'm excited to get inspired again this year.
Here's all the information you need to know if you're close-by and want to attend:
So grateful for this group of people who put so much effort into putting this together to help fight for strong families and what it takes to keep them that way.
Whether we can attend this conference or not, may we all have the courage to talk openly about these things with our kids and help them be aware of the dangers of pornography and how it can affect them and our society.
May we set up action plans when it infiltrates into our homes (which it will, no doubt, despite all our efforts).
And may we all, single or married, child-less or overwhelmed-with-children-crawling-all-over-us, fight to keep families, the building blocks of society, strong and whole and good to the best of our abilities.
Strong families can change the world.