Ya know, you do all you can to protect your children's eyes and keep them innocent. We do our very best to keep our children from seeing images of scantily clad women and men, violence and other scary things. We moniter our kids' use of the internet and the television, we watch what magazines and books enter our home and we do what we can to distract them from seeing less-than-wholesome bilboards and advertisements.
But, there are some things you just can't plan for. Like the boy who decides to show your young daughter his privates. Yeah, thanks for doing that, little boy. My girl has been scarred and will always have that image in her mind.
To her credit, she's a smart cookie and told her brothers about it, who in turn told Mom and Dad. And as much as I am upset by this (we'll be talking with the boy's parents), just moments later I was able to marvel over her sweet innocence.
Apparently my sweet daughter has taught herself how to tie laces. We've never worked with her on it, but just from watching her brothers, she has figured it out. One smart cookie! When we found out about this new talent, Josh took her on his lap and hugged her, telling her how beautiful AND smart she is. We joked about needing to lock her up until she's 33 since she's such a sweet, smart, beautiful girl.
And my darling girl turned to her Dad and said, "Well, if you lock me up, you'd better lock up Mom too. Because she's beautiful and knows how to tie too!" Awww, that's sweet!
But, unfortunately, her ability to tie is not the reason we'd like to lock her up. It's so difficult to protect girls in this day and age. I recently read that 40% of girls aged 9-10 years old have tried to lose weight!** 40%!!! I have a 10 year old. And I can't imagine him being concerned about something like weight. And yet, many girls his age are. I find it just incredible that girls are getting the message from adults, TV, ads, magazines, etc. that they must look a certain way and act a certain way to be noticed. Yes, in this culture, I'd love to keep my daughter sheltered. Wouldn't you?
As much as I try though, things will seep through my barriers and my innocent girl will see them. So, my biggest weapon is prayer. Prayer that I can be a vigilant mother and prayer that my children will not be affected by the unwholesome things they do occasionally see or experience. Prayer that the things I am teaching them from God's word will have more of an impact than the things that they encounter when accosted by a friend or a ronchy bilboard. Yup, this should drive me to my knees.
** Taken from Dr. James Dobson's book Bringing Up Girls
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