| In recent weeks, a frighteningly-titled article has gone viral: “When 6th Graders Can Access Rape Porn on Their Smartphones, School Becomes Toxic.” My first response to seeing this title was horror: The very idea that kids are watching this sort of content is alarming. I can only imagine what the writer of the article felt when she learned that her young child had been exposed to this sort of content at a friend’s birthday party. Horrifying as it is, what happened to the writer’s daughter is not an uncommon experience. In fact, the data actually shows that most kids or teenagers are exposed to pornography in some way by the end of adolescence. Some seek out this sort of content while others are unwittingly or accidentally introduced to it through no fault of their own. According to this week’s featured article, “Parenting in a Porn-Saturated World,” one study found that “nearly 50 percent of those … questioned about their first time viewing porn disclosed that it was another child who’d shared it with them.” However they’ve first come across it, kids can’t un-see what they’ve seen. CT’s “Quick to Listen” podcast recently tackled this topic, discussing how parents can teach their kids about sex in a God-honoring way even as we live in a porn-saturated world. In the podcast episode, Stan Jones—who, with his wife, has written several books for families to help parents teach their kids about sex—discusses why it is so important that Christian parents shape their kids’ understanding of sex and sexuality from an early age. Whether children are exposed to pornography or simply hear incorrect information about human reproduction on the playground, having good communication with their parents can do a world of good. Jones observes, “Why wait until your kid learns something wrong and develops wrong attitudes, wrong beliefs, wrong senses of the emotional impact of this? Why not frame it in the right way and be the one who tells them the truth?” Take some time to listen to this Q2L episode alongside your reading of “Parenting in a Porn-Saturated World.” Talking about sex with our kids is not an easy task—it is intimidating for most parents! But these resources will provide you with insights as you seek to parent your children well. | 