'Not if but when' children exposed to porn online; Ryan Dobson launches seminars for churches
Author and podcaster Ryan Dobson is launching an initiative to equip parents to safeguard their homes from everything from predators to pornography to home invasions.
In a Friday phone interview with The Christian Post, Ryan Dobson, son of radio broadcaster James Dobson, emphasized that hoping for the best is not a plan when it comes to protecting their kids. It's not a matter of if but when, he says, regarding exposure to illicit content online.
The idea for Home Safe seminars, which he founded and will launch on Sunday, was borne of his podcast Rebel Parenting. Home Safe is a new, church-based training seminar empowering parents with the strategies and tools to protect their families at church, school, in public places, and at home, according to his website.
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"We got so many calls from parents who were just afraid but don't know what to do," Dobson told CP.
"We used to joke back in the day that your parents had trouble setting the clock on the VCR. But we are a light year away from the VCR clock with TikTok, SnapChat, Instagram, Facebook, there's a new app coming out every week that all our kids know how to use but parents are in the dark about what to do and they are so afraid."
Through Home Safe seminars, Dobson — who grew up in a high-profile family in which security was always a concern — walks parents through the variety of threats families now face and offers immediate specifics on how to address them. The curriculum has an entire section about how parents can talk to their kids about pornography.
"Is it awkward at first? Yes, but you can do it. These are almost like scripted conversations you can have, and once you get your feet wet, then you've already started that process with your kids."
Dobson and his team have surveyed and aggregated the best and worst resources from everything from alarm systems to porn screening software.
"It breaks my heart when I get an email from someone who says 'Man, you've been talking about filtering porn, you've talked about the resources, and I know I should have done something," he said, recounting a specific message he received recently, a mom who told him that she "found out my 9-year-old daughter, she and her friends Googled the word 'butts.'''
The girls, who were just being silly, ended up being exposed to graphic content because Google does not filter out porn.
"It's not if, it's a when," children will be exposed to it, he added, stressing that it's always better that parents prepare and speak with their kids before a problem arises because then they will have "done the groundwork" and children will then approach them first instead of one of their friends or a stranger.
