septembersung:

When it comes to sane parenting discussions about protecting your children’s innocence and educating them on sensitive topics, there is simply no better source than Auntie Leila at LMLD. Case in point. The comments are also good.

Principle: Children do not need private screens. (Or, really, screens at all.) Principle: Protecting our children’s innocence, and our parental rights to be their primary educators in areas like “sex ed,” will mean contradicting the world’s expectations, and this is going to be uncomfortable at best and harrowing at worst.

Because we are not super “plugged in” and don’t do live television, we’ve put off a whole bunch of issues – like inappropriate commercials, or watching the news. But even we are encountering situations where, in order to protect our children, we are going to have to set unpopular and perhaps “offensive” rules. 

Examples: the much-older-than-they-are neighbor kid got a smart phone. When they last played together, all they wanted to do was sit down and watch videos on the phone. At family gatherings, much older cousins are playing games or watching videos on their phones and want our kids to participate – and our kids want to participate. Naturally!

I have no idea what’s the “right” or “polite” way to say no to the other kids. But say no I will, and with a clear conscience. 

I tell my kids, “There are better things to do than look at screens when you’re playing with others,” and, “We don’t watch something Mommy and Daddy haven’t seen to make sure it’s worth watching.”

More than ever today, parents have a grave duty to protect their children from the perversities of the world. Sometimes that means opting out of things society takes for granted. Sometimes it means being “weird” or “rude.” That is a price we have to be willing to pay – or answer for it on judgment day.

There is nothing more important than protecting our children, preserving their innocence, guiding them towards authentic beauty. Nothing.