Start ‘em young…

It is easy for me to jump on a soap box whenever certain issues come up… But when a particular issue also pokes my Mama Bear instincts… you better watch out!

The tide of today’s culture and the dominating messages of social media feel impossible to contain, especially when it comes to shaping the hearts and minds of young girls and women. It is tempting to throw up our hands in defeat, as wave after wave crashes against the very values that are true to the core… however… I think that feeling is exactly what the enemy of my heart and yours wants us to feel, and wants us to give into.

I’ve been off social media for a few years now, and haven’t allowed my kids to have access to the internet. My daughter likes to remind me that she is “only one in the entire middle school” without a phone. Even with these protective guardrails in place, she came to me with the influence of the internet telling her what to believe about her body.

After calming my own reactionary anger over these lies already coming for my girl, we were able to begin the necessary conversations about her body, truth, and the snare of the internet. Helping her step back and see the WHY behind the things she was feeling pressured to believe was tricky, but in the end we made it. Why did she feel inadequate? Ultimately, because YouTube wanted her to feel that way…

We have to start them young, friends. We as moms, aunts, coaches, leaders, must lead this generation to truth… Truth that is literal oxygen to our souls, and stronger than any wave of lies the world will throw at it.