Jenson is the author of Good Pictures, Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids and Good Pictures, Bad Pictures Jr: A Simple Plan to Protect Young Minds. As the founder of Protect Young Minds and a mother of three, she works to help parents porn-proof their homes and their children. Van Maren seeks to answer the many questions he’s received from parents on what they can be doing in their own homes, and Jenson provides some amazing information.
Van Maren and Jenson share several stories of young teens who accessed pornography and acted out. They discuss the fact that these kids aren’t monsters or bad kids; rather, they’re victims of our society.
Van Maren emphasizes that “one of the things I really want anybody listening to understand is that these children did not choose to grow up in a culture where access to pornography is everywhere. But parents choose to give them access, whether they know it or not.”
Even if parents are very careful, their kids are still likely going to have access to porn. Parents are using filters, accountability software, parental controls, and doing everything they can to reduce exposure, Jenson says, but “they’re not fully protected. [Kids] have to have an internal filter. They need to be persuaded that these things are dangerous.”
Van Maren wraps up his conversation with Jenson by digging into the details of how to keep families protected, how to talk with our kids, and how to help them build that internal filter. Jenson’s books basically give parents a script to use, making it much easier to begin these hard conversations with young kids in an age-appropriate way.
In the end, parents have two choices: “cross your fingers and hope your kids are going to be abnormal and not be curious about nudity. The second plan is the Protection Minds Plan, which is start young, make it a normal part of parenting.” Prepare them and give them a chance to reject pornography before it is something they’re introduced to.
The Van Maren Show is hosted on numerous platforms, including Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, iTunes, and Google Play.
For a full listing of episodes, and to subscribe to various channels, visit our Pippa webpage here.
To receive weekly emails when a new episode is uploaded, click here