Wise parenting does not begin with the task of keep ing kids away from pornography or pot or shoplifting. If a parent is struggling with holding the line at these places, then it is likely that they did not offer direction and input on other less obvious issues much earlier. Parents have multiple opportunities to teach their children the difference between wisdom and folly when the stakes are much lower. For example, suppose an opportunity arises for your thir teen-year-old daughter to go to a slumber party, an event where the girls are likely to stay up until two in the morning accompanied by a tangle of unedifying gossip. Going to this event doesn’t break any of the Ten Commandments in an obvious way—all the girls are classmates in a Christian school—so what should Dad say? And if he says no, then how can he do it in such a way that his daughter comes to appreciate (within a day or so) his wise protection of her? Or let’s take an Internet analog of slumber parties, which would be something like Facebook.
I urge you to read the whole essay.
