Protect Your Children From Destructive Influences

WHO WILL TEACH YOUR CHILDREN?

Christian parents place a high value on education.  They know that schooling helps children to read, write, and communicate, as well as to solve problems. It should also teach them how to learn. The skills children acquire in school can help them to succeed despite the challenge of today's world. Additionally, a good education may help them to perform superior work. - Proverbs 22:29.

However, school also brings children together  with other children-many of whom have distorted views.   For example, consider their views  on sex and morals. In a secondary school in Nigeria, a sexually promiscuous girl used to advise her fellow students about sex. They listened to her eagerly, even though her ideas were full of nonsense that she had gleaned from pornographic literature.  Some of the girls experimented with her advice.  As a  result one girl got pregnant out of wedlock and died of a self induced abortion. 

Sad to say, some of the sexual misinformation at school comes not from children, but from bad teachers. Many parents are dismayed when schools teach children about sex without presenting information on moral standard and responsibility. Said the mother of a 12-year-old girl:  "We live in a  religious, conservative area, and yet right in the local high school, they're handing out condoms to the kids?" She and her husband became concerned  when they learned that their daughter was getting sexual propositions from boys her own age. How can parents protect their family from such wrong influences? 

Is it best to shield children from any mention of sexual matters? No. It is better to teach your children about sex yourself.  (Proverbs 5:1) True, in parts of Europe and North America, many parents shy away from this subject. Similarly, in some African lands, parents rarely discuss sex with their children.  "its not part of African culture to do so," says a father in Sierra Leone. Some parents feel that to teach children about sex it to give them ideas that will lead them to commit immorality!  But what is God's view?

Next time: Protect Your Children From Destructive Influences/GOD'S VIEW OF SEX

From the book: The Secret Of FAMILY HAPPINESS