Today we had an amazing women's conference. A car full of women from my branch rode together for the hour and 45 minute drive there and then we were enriched for the next three and a half hours before our hour and 45 minute ride home. We were first enriched by a wonderful lunch and then we were fed wonderful knowledge for our personal lives and families.
The general session was not topics that you would naturally think a church meeting would discuss, but were powerful and pertinent. The first speaker talked about pornography and it's evil influence. How it can destroy marriages but also how marriages can be healed after taking the proper steps to overcome the silent spiritual killer. The men in the church have been hearing this one for a long time now, but now it is our turn and probably because it is affecting more and more more families not just through the father. There was a statistic given that was mind churning and truly heart wrenching...out of 40,000 people in the survey, 45% said they were "hooked" on pornography by 11-16 years old, 25% were between 17-19 but the scary-sad part was that 9% were hooked 5-10 years of age. That was a wake up call that the things I need to begin talking about with my children are not that far away!
The second speaker was a lawyer/school teacher who talked about cyberbullying, sexting, and internet safety. I have heard of these things but was not aware just how prevalent it is becoming...correct myself -IT IS. 1 in 4 youth are cyberbulled and of those not bullied, 65% know someone who is/has been cyberbullied. This topic along with the other two topics, and I was just awe struck as I was hearing not only the things he had to say but what the ladies in the congregation were contributing. S.C.A.R.Y! My mind kept asking "Can I just keep my kids little?" Answer: No! I know I can't so then I was turned to contempation about how I can teach them, help them, protect them from the evil that is everywhere around them.
It is hard to wrap up a two hour mini course into a few words, especially when I am not loquacious in any degree, but my take home message comes down to a few things that I will try to share. (and believe me, the more I think about it the longer my list is getting!!)
1-The Gospel is amazing and we are so blessed to have inspired leaders who have been warning and teaching us of avoiding such evils for years now.
2-The Gospel has the keys we need to start protecting/teaching/helping if we REGULARLY use them (i.e. attend church, scripture study, prayer, repentance...all those seminary answers we could plug into any question posed and they would not be wrong)
3-We need to establish open communication. Bold in some areas, blunt and with genuine love. This needs to be there between husband and wife and then between parent and child. If we don't talk to them, someone else will, and it will probably not be the information we want them to have.
4-We also need to start EARLY. If we think that waiting until they age "dating age"...we are too late! Remember 9% of those polled were hooked to porn between 5-10 years of age.
5-With certain privileges comes specific or certain conditions. i.e. with the internet, there is much good, but also easy access to much evil. They need to know not to go to such sites and they need to know if they come across a "not so good site" how to quickly get away and to also not be afraid to talk about it so it can be prevented. There are great resources out there for taking precautionary measures, but I/we can't be naive in thinking this will solve the problem...they need also to be talked to about if they are exposed to things they find wrong.
6-We can't avoid everything. So prepare, teach and warn for when it does come.
7-We need to not only not do things, but to stand up for others (this is from the cyberbullying part but is applicable in other aspects).
We then split up into two groups and had another great meeting about the importance of family dinner time but that may need to be another post since this one has now reached the "long post" status!
