Popular Culture – Page 20 – Parenting Like Hannah

Teen Purity Begins at Home

Teen Purity Begins at Home- Parenting Like Hannah I blame Anna Wintour. Okay, the infamous editor of Vogue is not the only contributor to the problem, but she has definitely done her part. At some point in time, models went from the clean cut, natural looking Audrey Hepburn types to the hyper-sexualized photographs you can find today in almost any fashion magazine.

When I lived in New York City, I worked very briefly for Harper’s Bazaar magazine. They had Calvin Klein speak at a sales meeting I attended. This was when he introduced the first highly sexual ads and they were still controversial. I will never forget what he said. Basically, he admitted his intent was to shock.

It really wasn’t about beauty at all. He believed if he could shock you, he could get you to look at his ads and buy his clothes. He must have been right, because since that speech in the late ’80’s, other designers have picked up the trend and made it the norm. Unfortunately, the designers’ desire to sell clothes has morphed into sexy being the standard for beauty.

As a society, we have let people like Anna Wintour and Calvin Klein tell us what is beautiful. Even Christians buy in to the lies we are told. Beauty is defined by heavy make-up, “sexy” hair, form fitting clothes and exposed bodies. The natural look may flitter in the fashion world for a moment every few years, but rarely stays long as the “pure” look is not sexy enough to sell clothes. God’s standard of inner beauty is never really considered.

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Christian Media and Kids

Christian Media and Kids - Parenting Like Hannah You want a godly book or dvd for your children, so you head to the local Christian book store and purchase something that sounds good. After all, how bad can it be since the Christian bookstore is selling it? When I was young, the Christian book and movie industry was in its infancy. Ironically, many Christians were very cautious about purchasing anything labeled Christian.

Partially, they were concerned about financing possibly shady preachers who were in religion more for material gain than preaching God’s Word. They were also concerned the books and movies would eventually take the place of the Bible for many people. Although I was young, I also remember discussions about the idea of young Christians being possibly taught false doctrine with no one to help them filter the truth from the false teachings.

A few years later, popular culture was in the midst of a serious downward spiral. Things that never would have been said or done on television were now airing in time slots when lots of young children watched. Books and movies were filled with foul language and glorified acts that only a decade ago no one would have discussed, much less spent hard earned money to read or watch.

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Join the Parenting Like Hannah Fun on Facebook

Join the Parenting Like Hannah Fun on Facebook - Parenting Like Hannah Part of the expansion of Parenting Like Hannah is our new Facebook page. This page allows me to share with you quick ideas and tips, freebies and a place to interact with each other more easily. In the last week on the Parenting Like Hannah Facebook page, I shared a great link to get lots of free Christian e-books, a fun activity to do with your kids to help them remember the resurrection story and alerted people to a great event in the Atlanta area.

Go to your Facebook page, type in “Parenting Like Hannah” in the search box and click on the “like” button once you get there or click the Facebook icon on this page and join the fun. Facebook is always playing around with our feeds, so make sure you like or comment on a post from Parenting Like Hannah periodically, or it may disappear from your view.

While you are clicking on things, make sure to follow Parenting Like Hannah on Twitter or my personal Pinterest account. The content varies on each social media format, so to get all of the “goodies” from Parenting Like Hannah you will need to follow everything. I hate having the same thing sent to me on everything, so I will try to keep it interesting for you. Start clicking and join the fun!

Hero Worship and God

My brother loved comic book heroes when he was young. He relished the idea of a normal man suddenly turning into a super hero to defend and protect others.

Hero worship is often a natural part of growing up. Our kids might adore athletes, musicians, actors or a host of other people. The problem with heroes is they are sinful people just like the rest of us. No one can live up to the ideals wrapped up in hero worship.

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Picking the Best Movies for Your Kids

My family is always amazed at some of the movies our daughter’s friends have been allowed to watch. From pre-school on, some of these children have been regularly exposed to movies rated “PG”, “PG-13” and even some “R” rated movies. The parents are either unconcerned or exposed the child to the movie themselves.

The conversations I have with some of these parents intrigue me. The parent begins talking about a disturbing movie they just watched with their young child in the room. The conversation switches topics and usually within ten minutes, the same parent is expressing concern and wonderment about their child, who is “suddenly” having a lot of nightmares or acting out in other ways.

I know many of these same parents believe our family is over-reacting to movies with mature themes or more adult ratings. We are viewed by many as naive or over-protective. So, out of fairness, I reviewed the academic research on children and how their behaviors are affected by what they view. I expected to find mixed study results, as often happens when various studies focus on a particular topic.

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