I found this awesome article written on an Awana blog site. Thought I would share since it was so interesting and inspiring to me. We have to take responsibility for the ones God has given us!
"There's a lot of garbage in our world, and I'm not talking about landfills. Our eyes, ears and minds are bombarded daily with all kinds of trash.
It is challenging enough as Christian adults to combat the forces of culture. But the amount of junk thrown at our kids is vastly different than when we were their age. Consider what our children are facing:
In 2000, $2 billion was spent on advertising to children in America. Today, that figure has increased to $15 billion.
One-third of young children have a television in their bedroom, as do two-thirds of pre-teens and teens.
The average child may view as many as 40,000 commercials every year.
Four hours of TV programming contain approximately 100 ads.
According to research firm EMarketer Inc., as many as 20 million children and teens will visit virtual worlds by 2011, up from 8.2 million in 2007.
A 2005 report counted 29 million U.S. kids between the ages of 8 to 14. Nearly 90 percent of these children are now online.
Up to 40 percent of the books sold at a typical school book fair are linked to a movie, TV show or video game.
Advertisers spent close to $164 million reaching consumers on mobile devices in 2007. By 2011, this amount is expected to grow to $2.3 billion.
MySpace and Facebook are experimenting with customized advertising based on the information provided by users’ personal profiles.
In June 2006, the Journal of Adolescent Health reported that teens who absorbed sexually explicit entertainment most frequently were up to 2.2 times more likely to have had sexual intercourse by ages 14 to 16 than those who had been exposed the least.
Our culture sends mixed and increasingly dangerous messages to our kids that are in total opposition to the Christian faith.
We are the primary spiritual influencers in our kids’ lives. How can we protect and equip our children from cultural assaults and help them make God-honoring decisions that will keep them safe?
Here are a few ideas:
● Review videos, music and media choices. Use resources like
www.pluggedinonline.com or
www.realworldparents.com to read media reviews and to stay current on what your kids might be watching at the theater or listening to on their iPod.
● Train kids to make wise choices according to God’s standards. Teach them God’s view of cultural messages and what He would think about particular songs or TV shows. Talk about it as a family.
● Memorize Philippians 4:8 with your kids: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Implement the ‘TNRPLA’ method to make godly choices: is what I’m about to watch, read or listen to true, noble, right, pure, lovely or admirable?
● Install media safeguards on your TV and computer. Try one of these helpful resources:
For social networking safety:
YouDiligence™
For Internet safety:
Bsecure™ Family ProtectionCovenant Eyes® Accountability and FilteringSafe Eyes® Internet Parental ControlSafe Eyes Mobile™ iPhone & iPod Touch Internet FilteringFor media safety:
ClearPlay®
TiVo® KidZoneI recently read a quote on a blog that sums up perfectly what I think Christian parents desire for their children: “We can teach our kids not to fear the culture, but to turn things around — to capture the culture for Christ.”
And I think that’s the best way to get rid of the trash. What do you think?"
Written by Kim Anderson who is a Web copywriter at Awana. She and her husband have two daughters. She has also co-written six books on youth ministry.
