Teaching Children About Purity.

Recently, several mommy friends have initiated conversations about teaching children and tweens about sexuality and purity in a Godly way. I think that must have been God's nudge to get me thinking about these things, so I did a little research.

These are books that my trusted mommy friends recommended:

• 5 Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter by Vicki Courtney. It is a wonderful resource for teaching our girls purity. I highly recommend it to all moms of daughters, no matter how old they are!
• “Sex Has a Price Tag: Discussions about Sexuality, Spirituality, and Self-Respect” by Pam Stenzel.
• We used the series "God's Design for Sex" (1st book is called The Story of Me, and they have a book for each age range - got a little hokey by book 3 but the first few were good for the early ages)
• Preparing your Daughter for Every Young Woman's Battle (good for tween age - the 1st 1/2 of the book is for mom/dad, and then the 2nd half you do together)
• Preparing your Son for Every Young Man's Battle (same as above - there is also a Every Young Women's/Man's Battle, but we felt this would be more appropriate for high school age)
• Tribe - Michael Ross (My son did this as a devotional)
• We've had conversations with our girls, but not used any books thus far. When they are high school age (maybe younger?) I'm going to have them read Lauren Winner's book Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity because I think it addressed the heart component of purity much better than anything I've ever read. It's not at all, "Don't have sex before marriage. Just don't" which is what I think kids hear most often. Instead, Winner explains why this is what God wants for us and, as always, she does so in an authentic, compelling voice that makes you feel like you're having a dialogue instead of reading a treatise.
  

I also found several books recommended by either Focus on the Family or Family Life Today, but I haven't read any of them yet.

• Created by God: Tweens, Faith, and Human Sexuality Parent Guide and Student Book
• How to Talk Confidently With Your Child About Sex
• How to Talk to Your Kids About Sexuality
• I Want to Teach My Child About Sex by Dr. Karl Wendt and Shannon Wendt
• Teaching Your Children Healthy Sexuality: A Biblical Approach to Preparing Them for Life
• Teaching Your Kids About Sex I-II

I also found a list of articles and podcasts by Family Life Today that might interest parents interested in these topics.

I'm sure some of you have already found great resources to help you on this journey - do you have suggestions for other moms? If so, I hope you'll share them, so we can learn from each other.

Thanks!!