Holiness for Children: Kingdom Kids Series

[Rhoni]

Originally Posted by Newman

I find it disturbing that 4 year old girls have to consider if their clothing is a door or wall. It seems to sexualize what isn't and should not be an issue for most children.

I think it much better for a mother just to tell her young daughter that we don't dress like that at our house rather than making them resposible for other people's problems. This also avoids a condemning attitude towards others who don't dress the same which is especially unnecesary for a young girls to learn before they have the ability to make finer distinctions.

Sis. Newman,

This is true developmentally. Children from birth until about 7 are in the period of latency and to sexualize things before one is old enough to understand is just asking for trouble.

Blessings, Rhoni

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Rhoni

Sis. Newman,

This is true developmentally. Children from birth until about 7 are in the period of latency and to sexualize things before one is old enough to understand is just asking for trouble.

Blessings, Rhoni

Wow, we're agreeing a lot on this thread! One of my pet peeves is parents who draw their kids' attention to sexuality or give them ideas about other people having sexual thoughts at a very young age.

Truth be told, any person who has sexual thoughts about a child or toddler is a pedophile, and my children shouldn't even have a reference point about something like that, other than knowing that adults should never touch them in certain places.

I was working for a friend in his insurance office one day, and Sarah was with me...she was around 3 then, I think...anyway, a customer came in and sat down for a quote or to pay a bill or something, and Sarah was pretty much doing cartwheels and climbing up the sides of the desk and flip-flops and normal 3 year old things...she happened to flash her undies, and the woman spoke up and chided her directly (not even addressing the adults in the room), and told her to put her dress down, that she shouldn't be showing her underwear. Phew! I was steaming. Not only was it not her place to correct someone else's child, but for goodness sake, who CARES if a 3-year old flashes her training pants????? Granted, I probably should've had her in shorts or a skort, but still...It was such an ignorant statement.

I wouldn't even credit it with "well-meaning."

Children should just be kids. There's plenty of time to learn about all the adult issues when they're older. Those sorts of comments come from puritanical thinking...not the Bible. It's the same puritan, staid, proper thinking that places stigma on women who nurse their children past the age of 1. In Bible times it was quite common to nurse a child to age 3, or even beyond, as I understand it. The human body has been over-sexualized to the point that now children are made responsible for inappropriate adult sexuality, and the nudity of a child is seen as overtly sexual in nature. Goodness!

*sigh*

You're right, Ab.

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

Wow, we're agreeing a lot on this thread! One of my pet peeves is parents who draw their kids' attention to sexuality or give them ideas about other people having sexual thoughts at a very young age.

Most kids who develop bad sexual habits were not educated at a young age on sexual things.

Truth be told, any person who has sexual thoughts about a child or toddler is a pedophile, and my children shouldn't even have a reference point about something like that, other than knowing that adults should never touch them in certain places.

If that is the way you choose to raise your children then I pray Gods blessing to you. But I feel strongly that you know a tree by the fruit it bears. I wan't my kids to watch for people that might abuse them. I am not going to wait for them to be touched before they have to react.

Children should just be kids. There's plenty of time to learn about all the adult issues when they're older.

When the bible says to train up a child in the way it should go. When do you start that if not when they are a child. Being a kid doesnt mean not learning about life. Thats what a kid is suppose to do is to learn. Kids brains attain much more than adults brains. The older a person gets the harder it is to teach them any thing new. So I think we should start as early as possible. This can be done in a positive manner without scaring the child.

Those sorts of comments come from puritanical thinking...not the Bible. It's the same puritan, staid, proper thinking that places stigma on women who nurse their children past the age of 1. In Bible times it was quite common to nurse a child to age 3, or even beyond, as I understand it. The human body has been over-sexualized to the point that now children are made responsible for inappropriate adult sexuality, and the nudity of a child is seen as overtly sexual in nature. Goodness!

In a perfect world you would be correct. But we don't live in a perfect world. I am telling you from many people that I know personally that their are some very evil people in this world that don't look at kids in the innocent way that me and you might. I am going to prepare my kids in the best way I can. That includes outward and inward.

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by slave4him

Most kids who develop bad sexual habits were not educated at a young age on sexual things.

Do you have a resource to refer me to in order to support your statement? Sex education and sexualizing a child are NOT the same thing.

If that is the way you choose to raise your children then I pray Gods blessing to you. But I feel strongly that you know a tree by the fruit it bears. I wan't my kids to watch for people that might abuse them. I am not going to wait for them to be touched before they have to react.

Obviously. But I hope you wouldn't give your children graphic details of what those bad people might do to them, AND I hope that you would never tell them that a person might touch them inappropriately because they were showing their belly button!!??

When the bible says to train up a child in the way it should go. When do you start that if not when they are a child. Being a kid doesnt mean not learning about life. Thats what a kid is suppose to do is to learn. Kids brains attain much more than adults brains. The older a person gets the harder it is to teach them any thing new. So I think we should start as early as possible. This can be done in a positive manner without scaring the child.

Then we agree. Do you actually have a disagreement with my post? LOL!

In a perfect world you would be correct. But we don't live in a perfect world. I am telling you from many people that I know personally that their are some very evil people in this world that don't look at kids in the innocent way that me and you might. I am going to prepare my kids in the best way I can. That includes outward and inward.

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

Those sorts of comments come from puritanical thinking...not the Bible. It's the same puritan, staid, proper thinking that places stigma on women who nurse their children past the age of 1. In Bible times it was quite common to nurse a child to age 3, or even beyond, as I understand it. The human body has been over-sexualized to the point that now children are made responsible for inappropriate adult sexuality, and the nudity of a child is seen as overtly sexual in nature. Goodness!

Um...which part of the above paragraph "would be correct" if we lived in a perfect world?

The fact that we live in an imperfect world was what I addressed. However, I will not lay the burden for other folks' obscene thoughts and actions on my children. Protecting them by telling them what others should not be doing is different from telling them to protect themselves from evil by covering their little bodies from head to toe. Come on! What pedophile would be discouraged by a full coverage shirt? That's a laughable premise.

It's one thing to teach your children to be modest because modesty is pleasing to God and respectful of others. It's quite another to tell them they HAVE to cover up so other, weird, bad evil people won't have lustful thoughts about them!