Media and social networking has made tons of information available at our finger tips. Very unfortunately, most of it are negative and quite alarming, especially for parents – parents of girls to be more precise! Not a day goes by with a news on injustice, immorality, terror and vice! Almost every time I open Facebook or WhatsApp, I see articles and status messages blaming how politics, education, culture and media are deteriorating and how we need to protect ourselves and our generation from all these evils!

All of it may be true and I don’t want to live in denial! I certainly will take every measure to protect my children!

BUT…! Let’s take a moment and THINK!

How far can we protect our kids?

We certainly can avoid innappropriate media and movies… while they are home!

Teach them to avoid seemingly dangerous people and places!

In all this, we can only bypass evil to a very limited degree! The minute our kids step out of our vicinity, they are all by themselves in this BIG BAD WORLD!

Most of what we prevented our kids from seeing or listening to on the TV or in the movies are happening right in front of their very eyes!!!!

No matter how much we vent ourselves on social media, situations remain the same!

SO WHAT DO WE DO?

Here are a few things that I have experienced and learnt –

PROTECT BUT PREPARE

My mother is a psychatric counselor. In her profession she has seen so many psychopaths while we may have only seen a fraction in the movies! I remember her sharing some shocking stories with me!

I remember one day when I was in 8th Grade, she called me and said, “Michelle amma, most mother’s would not have heard such stories in their lifetime! The reason I am sharing this with you is not to scare you, but to prepare you! Such is the world we are living in! You got to be prepared to confront any situation!”

Looking back, I admire the fact that my parents, courageously let me pursue my education and career is far away cities, while most parents of daughters keep their girls close to them!

My parents never restricted me too much – be it going for college trips or speaking to boys. They gave me the liberty, BUT they also taught me where I should draw the line. They taught me how I ought to have my head on my shoulders!

The measures we take to protect our kids may succeed to a certain extent. However, the values and courage we instill in our kids, is what will propel them!

DISCUSS ‘EVERYTHING’

My mom and I always seized every opportunity to discuss issues of life and relationships. There was no topic that was a ‘taboo’!

I remember a couple of times in my early teens, when on different occasions, men took advantage of my innocence. My mother was the first person I ran to!

Later, I discovered, my friends who went through similar abuse, kept it a secret from their parents because such things were a ‘taboo’ to be discussed in their homes!

LOVE & SEX

We ought to know, if we don’t teach our kids the value of love and sex, they will be learning it from their friends and media – often that is the perverted version!

There is something inherent in the way we learn that is referred to as “the principle of first mention.” The first time we hear information on any given subject, that knowledge becomes the foundation upon which we weigh everything else we are exposed to on the same topic. For example, if you begin teaching little Johnny about healthy sexuality when he is eight years old, and at thirteen his friends try to influence him with a perverted sexual message, he will weigh their opinions against what you taught him, which he deems to be the truth, and most often reject their message as a lie. Of course, this principle works against you if his friends teach him about sex before you do! In this case, Johnny will be prone to embrace his friends’ perversion as the truth, and discard your wisdom as a lie. – Kriss Vallotton, Parenting Sexuality, Moral Revolution

EQUIP CONQUERORS, NOT COWARDS!

I read the book ‘Raising Kingdom Kids’ by Tony Evans years ago. One thing he mentioned in it made a deep impact in me!

He says, over the years, in our sincere attempt to raise kids in a protective environment – constantly commanding them – Don’t go there.. Don’t sit there.. Don’t speak to so and so.. Don’t do this.. Don’t touch that..!… We have subconsciously programmed our children to believe evil is more powerful than good!

Most of the times, the underlining fact of what we instruct our children is ‘The evil out there is so so bad that it is powerful to influence you!’

It is time we raise a generation that believes GOOD conquerors EVIL!

It is time we teach our children the power of GOOD in them will shatter the EVIL around them!

RAISE A GENERATION THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE

Recently, I resolved I am not going to crib or complain about what is happening around me, unless I can do something about it!

In other words,

I want to be the change I would like to see!

It is so important that we begin to look at ourselves and our kids through the eyes of our Maker! He sure did not create us to shun and flee from evil! Rather… We are created to conqueror and subdue evil! And I am very confident He has packed us with all the potential we need to do so!

I believe as parents, we ought to consciously avoid exaggerating evil and giving it false glory! It’s time we magnify the good around us – in people, in our neighborhood, in our culture and in the world! The more we do it, the more we will be stirring our kids to strive to make this world a better place!

I believe I am raising two world changers! Someday I shall see them impacting their world! In the meanwhile, I shall strive to do my bit to make a difference in mine 🙂