Such is the approach taken by the authors of “The Temptation of a Generation,” the first book in a new children’s series that aims to address some of the thornier issues facing kids in the Digital Age, according to its co-authors.
Created by California-based marriage and family therapist Karen Child and children’s book author Danielle Tiano, the book addresses the issue of ‘Internet addiction’ generally, and ‘pornography addiction’ specifically, focusing largely on the effects both on teenagers and younger children.
“The number one goal is to educate parents that [exposure to adult content online] is going to happen…. then open the lines of communication between parents and children,” Child said in a recent interview. “That is the only researched factor that keeps kids from becoming addicted; open communication and a good relationship with parents.”
Citing statistics published by Internet Filter Review, Family Safe Media and others, Child claimed that the average age of first exposure to adult content is 8 years old, and said that exposure to sexually explicit material at such a tender age is added cause for concern.
“Given the developmental stages that kids go through with their body and their minds developing, when porn comes in it causes more of an addictive response, especially now that pornography is so much more accessible,” Child said. “It stops [kids] from connecting to real people in a normal way because they are used to having sexual encounters with people that aren’t real, and it really disables them from having normal communication and normal relationships.”
Child said that while some parents will doubtlessly be concerned that merely discussing sex and/or pornography with their children will lead their kids to seek it out, merely ignoring the issue and hoping it will go away is not the answer.
“The kids are going to see it,” Child said. “There is no doubt about it, and it’s best to have talked to them and give them a framework to understand it and a line of communication to go back and discuss what they do see.”
The main character in The Temptation of a Generation is a child named “Timmy,” who gives up his skateboarding hobby in favor of all-night porn surfing sessions before he realizes he has a problem, seeks out help and ultimately kicks his web porn habit.
An excerpt of the book published on the company’s website summarized Timmy’s predicament as follows:
“At school, Timmy was shy. He couldn’t talk to girls and he didn’t know why. He wanted to hide, so he turned to his computer where everything came alive. On his computer, he felt no one could take his power away. So, in his room was where he wanted to stay.”
The moral of the story, according to its publishers, is “Don’t be a fool to a thing that seems cool. The dangers are real and your life it can steal.”
For more information on The Temptation of a Generation, visit TemptationOfAGeneration.com