Clueless

'Nanny' ranted a little about parents who do not know their kids, and think they are 'little angels' who would do no wrong. Ok -I summarized a bit.

A few months ago, with the permission of a 16 year old boy's parents, I began to examine his electronic life...

Sure, they knew he had a little (so-called) Christian Rock on his iPod, but they thought that was it.

As I talked to him, it was clear he thought I <i>just</i> fell off the turnip truck, mere moments before we walked in his house. He lied and side-stepped every question I asked about his online life. As he lied, I (with the help of the Lord) was able to see through his lies and slowly peel back the layers into his hidden life.

First, we talked about the surface of his online life - how the forums he was a part of were deceptively named and were nothing the parents thought they were.

Next, we took cues from his posts on some of these forums and moved to his iPod. The mother thought she had deleted the bad stuff and it was gone forever. She did not understand the technology and did not realize he had all his music stored (in several places) on his PC. The music was horrible, to say the least and certainly not what should be in the life of a Christian, no matter what you think of so-called Christian rock.

The music made it clear that his desires had turned lascivious. My instinct was confirmed by some things I looked at on his PC, then proven when I pulled the veil back from his surfing history revealing the pornography he was involved in. (... quick notes: 1. I did not view any porn, there was enough other evidence to prove what he was involved in without actually viewing the images. 2. He was fully convinced his tracks were completely covered. 3. Don't ask, I am not telling you how I found what I found.)

By the time this was over, his father was red in the face and silent. I later learned from this family's pastor that the more angry the father gets, the quieter he gets. The mother kept repeating, "I'm so sorry, I had no idea," as she sobbed. The pastor was completely shocked that this fine, upstanding leader of the youth group (a well-known, IFB church) would be involved in such stuff.

These parents typify the average parent - clueless.

In short, 'Nanny', parents have absolutely no idea what their kids are up to. If the parents would open their eyes, and remember what they were thinking when they were teens, they would see their kids in a whole new light. Just as we cannot trust our own flesh, we cannot trust the flesh that contains our kids!