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Power of Families

Ideas and Inspiration for Purposeful Parenting

Book Summary: Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids

by on Posted in: Book Summary, Teaching Values, Timely Topics

Title: Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids

Authors: Kristen A. Jenson and Gail Poyner

Basic Overview: This read-aloud book makes it easy and comfortable to open the conversation about the dangers of pornography with young children. It gives kids an internal filter and a specific plan to use when they accidentally see bad pictures.

How this book impacted me and my family:

I love my children with my whole heart. I want to help protect their brains, relationships, and souls. Thanks to this book, my children are now better porn-proofed because they better understand the dangers they face online and are armed with a concrete plan if they accidentally see bad pictures.

This may be one of the most important books you ever read to your children.

The average age of children’s exposure to pornography is between 7 and 12. These are young, innocent children. What tools are on the market to help teach our children what pornography is and what to do about it?  Here is a one-of-a-kind resource that is helping us as parents do just that – porn-proof our kids.

These conversations aren’t always easy, but they are crucial to our kids’ future happiness. The introduction to Good Pictures Bad Pictures tells about two young children, ages seven and eight, whose parents didn’t have this conversation with them. When the children were accidentally exposed to pornography, they didn’t have any idea what to do with the shock, shame, and craving they felt all at once. So they went back for more and both became addicted.

That doesn’t need to happen in your family! Good Pictures Bad Pictures is an easy and powerful tool that I believe can make all the difference in protecting your family from addiction.

Even though it’s smart to install filters and create limits and boundaries with electronic devices, kids today will still be exposed at some point.  Because pornography is accessible on any internet device, anonymous, and affordable (90% view it for free), there is an unprecedented opportunity to see bad pictures. This book gives kids the skills to install their own internal filter to protect their brains from addiction.

Good Pictures Bad Pictures is like an inoculation against the vile, degrading and violent images that are looking for our kids when they go online. It helps porn-proof kids by teaching what pornography is, why they should avoid it, and how it can damage their brains and become an addiction. Then it teaches a “fire drill” plan to minimize the effect of shocking images when they are accidentally exposed.

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Parts I liked best:

  • The story is a sweet dialogue between a mother and her son, which creates a comfortable setting.
  • Simple science explains how pornography harms the brain.
  • Clever analogies make it easy to understand the difference between the thinking brain and feeling brain.
  • The book makes it easy to address a tough subject, even if you haven’t had the “birds and bees” talk yet.
  • A simple “CAN DO” plan gives a child clear steps to take when they see something bad to  minimize the impact of seeing it. (It would be a good idea to role play the steps in the plan so they become muscle memory, like school children do with fire drills.)

FREE Can Do Poster

My husband is an ecclesiastical leader and an attorney who works with divorce and criminal clients, so he sees the effects of pornography addiction first hand. He was so impressed with this book that he passed it around at his church leadership meeting and offered to loan it to anyone so they can prevent the problems he sees.

I would love it if every family owned a copy of this book. Think of how many innocent children would be saved.

Additional Resources

Listen to April Perry’s interview with Kristen Jenson on Power of Moms radio by clicking here.  A great discussion on how to protect children from porn.

Read another book review plus commentary by Catherine Arveseth we used video production companies phoenix, hope you guys like it.

Watch this two-minute video (goodpicturesbadpictures.com/videos/) describing this empowering book.

Originally published December 2, 2014.

Comments

  1. Thank you for the article you wrote!

    Do these authors have another book on how to help pornograph-exposed children recover from the effects of the pornography they’ve been exposed to?

    If not, do they, or you, know of any books that are, or might be, age-appropriate for young elementary aged children? I’m also curious if there are any age-appropriate books for middle school-aged children who might need help recoving from having been exposed as well.

    Of course, we’re on the front lines of helping our sons through the tidal wave of transition through the last days. The adversary has tools of…proportions beyond comprehension. Puberty and neuron “brain” muscle memory make addictions TOUGH to overcome. Testosterone sets one up for being an enemy to God from the get-go.

    Thank goodness for forgiveness! Sorry if I sound…overwhelmed. I am! The internet IS a net. I love that one can have a limit, like a self-imposed time limit, so one doesn’t get swept away with being lost in it.

  2. Will you please tell me where you got the reference for the statistic that “The average age of children’s exposure to pornography is between 7 and 12?”

    I’d like to include that statistic in a letter I’m sending to parents of my congregation but would like a reference. I can’t find it when googled, I only see that the average is 11.

    Thanks so much for letting me be aware of this wonderful book!

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