Teens & Technology

  • Child Protection / Abuse in the Church,  Momma Tara~Parenting,  Teens & Technology

    What I Tell My Pre-Teen About Porn

    Yesterday, I did a quick check-in with my preteen daughter about how her heart and mind were doing re: inadvertent exposure to sexual or violent images. I use different words, of course. Otherwise, the very act of asking about things could create trouble—and I surely don’t want to do that! But as we were there, nose-to-nose, snuggling and talking about important things, I asked if she had seen anything troubling or tempting on any technology or on a bookshelf at a friend’s home or in a store, etc. She mentioned how the title “The Lady with the Dragon Tattoo” had created in her a desire for a second glance when she saw…

  • Relationships & Peacemaking,  Teens & Technology

    Unmediated is Better

    I continue to learn from Tim Challies through his book, The Next Generation: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion. Chapter 5, “Life in the REAL WORLD (Mediation / Identity)” has had me mulling for days now. In it, he defines “medium” as “something that stands between.” Then he discusses how “medium” is at the root of the word “mediator”, so when we talk about mediation in reference to our communication via digital technology, we are talking about some kind of “device or tool or technology that delivers some kind of data or information. It stands between the one who creates sounds or images and the one who receives them.”…

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  • Teens & Technology

    Frank and Open Discussions About S*X

    Years ago, a woman in our church and I have held Sunday morning “discussion times” with some of the teen and young adult women in our church. My co-teacher did an amazing job of summarizing and presenting all three years of the Susan Hunt curriculum for teens during our classes last year. This summer, we wanted to go even deeper into concepts related to biblical womanhood, so I created handouts and homework each week around the following topics: – Women as Courageous Leaders (trusting God and using our gifts in the home, church, workplace, and community) with a specific focus on formal education money/debt, career, marriage goals / infertility issues. Egalitarianism…

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  • Singleness & Marriage,  Teens & Technology

    I love this! “I Will Wait”

    Two of my favorite people, Carolyn McCulley and Pastor Anyabwile, pointed me to this video years ago and it is still a favorite. I do SO urge you to watch it all the way to the end. It may not be your culture. Poetry reading may not be something you take part in often.   Listen anyway. This is excellent.  

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  • Child Protection / Abuse in the Church,  Momma Tara~Parenting,  Teens & Technology

    How to Keep Your Kids from Destroying Themselves with an iPhone

    I wish I had included this link in my previous article: How to Keep Your Kids from Destroying Themselves with an iPhone And this one too (I’m not personally familiar with this organization, but a quick glance at their site indicates to me that it is worth checking out):   G.R.A.C.E. – Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (HT: TakeYourVitaminZ & a comment from Tanya) 

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  • Child Protection / Abuse in the Church,  Momma Tara~Parenting,  Teens & Technology

    I Do Not Have One Early Childhood Memory Apart from Pornography

    Based on the number of clicks I received on my most recent post (“Three Things You Don’t Know About Your Children and Sex”), I’m not the only one who was helped by Anne Marie Miller’s excellent article. Were you also convicted like me? Yes. Yes. Just like when I am preparing to teach and Fred (lovingly) reviews my notes and then encourages me to listen to the words I am about to say to a few hundred women (“Tara? I think this is a good teaching. I think it might point the women to Christ and help them to be even more confident in Him. In fact–I’m thinking of a woman I…

  • Teens & Technology

    If only we listened with the same passion we feel about being heard …

    I heard this quote today and did a little research to learn more about the speaker: “If only we listened with the same passion we feel about being heard.” Dr. Shirley Turkle Much to think about there. Dr. Turkle  has a fascinating TED Talk here: Connected But Alone. This is worth 19 minutes of your time!  . Sorry to be so brief! Time is short this week— Blessings and joy, Tara B. 

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  • Momma Tara~Parenting,  Redeeming Church Conflicts,  Teens & Technology

    Top Ten Reasons Our Kids Leave The Church

    This is an excellent article for every Christian in the church. I bet even Cap’n Dave would approve! And it gives me serious pause as to how much my  parenting and care for my friends in the church is intentionally pushing back against this tide: Top Ten Reasons Our Kids Leave the Church (HT: Z) 

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  • Momma Tara~Parenting,  Teens & Technology

    The Strange, Ensorcelling, Oft-Inaccurate World of Today’s Technology

    I’m having a strange technology week. Some of it has to do with my weeks-old iPhone and my haltingly slow steps into the world of interacting with friends via texting. (Yes. I admit it. Texting really is quite convenient when you have to interact with people on time-sensitive matters. But do I really want to be that connected during my normal day? Even just two days of needing immediately to hear any “alerts” left me with a slight experience of the phantom iPhone vibrations I read about in a June issue of Bloomberg Businesweek. Creepy! Addictive! But very real.) Some of it has to do with the fact that my name…