Guard Against Grooming
Excitement is building as the new school year begins. Photos will be posted of smiling kids in cute outfits standing in front of signs with the new grade. It’s a tragic time in our world’s history when photographs of our darling children and grandchildren can be lifted off the internet, sold and altered to become pornography and catalogs for sex slaves. We must believe evil exists and we must defend against it.
Start with your child’s school. Will the reading books and curriculum include same sex relationships, immodest dress, romantic themes, gender confusion? Will the teacher hide conversations regarding sexual matters from you? Will the teacher or principal encourage the kids to hide their use of “other” pronouns from you? Tell them you won’t stand for it. Join with other parents and get an attorney.
If you feel you have no choice to stop this intrusion, you must teach your child everyday what is truth so they can avoid the confusion and shame these matters bring. Kids have an innate radar, even more than a conscience, that makes them feel uncomfortable when sexual topics and activities arise. Kids cannot consent to sexual activity. They do not have the maturity or comprehension to consent. But they do have the need to please adults that causes them to participate in things that hurt them, physically and emotionally.
The truth is God created people. He wanted to have a relationship with us. He wants us to have a relationship with each other. He created men and women to complement each other to have friendships and fulfillment. fulfilling. God loves us and wants us to be safe and happy. He knows there is evil in the world. He gives us rules and principles to live by in the Bible to help us avoid the evil. When we face evil, the Bible has words to help us fight against and overcome the damage it does to us.
Tell your kids the truth. Tell them every day you love them. Tell them what talents and abilities you admire in them. Keep their emotional bucket full of positive encouragement so they are not tempted by evil to get their love. You can tell them the things they hear in school are wrong without being disrespectful to the adults teaching it. You are their boss and God is yours. There is much confidence and comfort in that truth.
Examples of grooming to desensitize kids to sexual matters and a healthy antidote:
- Talk to a child at the wrong age.
- Give them a little info when they are little. Add to the knowledge by age 12.
- Encourage romance in kids.
- If they are not ready for marriage, there is no need to be interested in romance and sexual activity.
- People older than them hold them, kiss them, touch them, spend alone time with them to build a physical relationship.
- This is especially true of relatives, teachers, coaches, and church staff. Constantly tell kids they must talk to you about what others do to them. They are not in trouble or bad. You need to know to help them get it stopped. Tell them even if they think some of it feels good, it is not healthy or natural for older people and children to have those kinds of activities together.
- Use digital screens to hide communication, show pornography, cyberbully so they can be “rescued” by an abuser.
- Never leave kids in a room by themselves with screens. Look over their shoulder often to see what they are looking at. Use every parental lock available. Hide screens after 9 p.m. Create a significant consequence for disobedience and enforce it consistently.
Be an adult. Lay down rules the other kids don’t have. Fight against the current of a hypersexualized culture. Be the parent not just a friend. Stand up now or face plant the ground when you find out your kid is molested or disappeared.
Pray for your child. Touch their head at bedtime and say:
“May the Lord keep you from all harm as you trust in Him. May He watch over your life, your coming and your going, both now and forevermore.”
