On Saturday 14 May, Emmanuel Church Leamington hosted a morning for parents of children from primary to early teenagers.
The ever-present dangers presented by social media, the issues of ‘sexting’ and online grooming, not to speak of the reality of harmful material sometimes being presented to children at school – means that parents need to protect their children.
The first session, ‘Navigating Sex Education’ was led by Edwina Cutler and Sandra Rome from Lovewise. They explained:
• The materials used to deliver sex education in some schools – a real wake-up call to those who would prefer not to know!
• A helpful overview of parental rights with regard to sex education. It is vitally important that parents know what is being presented to their children. They have the right to see resources, and, if unhappy, they have the right to withdraw their children from those lessons.
• How, positively, to teach God’s good design for marriage, sex and relationships.
• An overview of the resources Lovewise can offer for use in the home, in youth groups, and in schools.
Parents were given the opportunity to look through these books and other materials. A new resource, Staying Pure Online, helps parents and youth workers navigate the whole area of protection from online pornography.
Child protection policeman
The second session, ‘Protecting Your Child Online’, was delivered by Stuart Clasper, a member of Emmanuel Church who works as a police officer specialising in child protection. He gave a wealth of practical and easy-to-follow information on how to monitor and control children’s use of social media, the internet, etc.,
I talked to a friend in another part of the country following the event. She freely confessed that when her own children were young she would not have chosen to spend a sunny Saturday morning ‘on such a grim topic’. But, with hindsight, and from bitter experience, she now saw the vital importance of being warned and informed.
