Little girls...

I only have a good 5 or 6 more years with Summer to directly inflence her life. Until she hits 15 or 16 she will absolutely be depending on me for knowledge of the world around her(obviously I will still be influencing her after that but not like I do now). Am I supplying her with what she needs? We as parents spend a huge amount of time worrying about our kids and the influences around them. We can directly influence our kids in so many ways. Church being one of them. Now let me tell you how many time we have gone since VBS? Zero. We will start again next week. Some mornings it is all I can do to get dressed and go over there. But where else in the world can you bring your child to learn about good values, God, and surround them with others who hold those same values? Where I bring my kids is important (even if they do not want to go). And by the way- its good for me too :0)

TV- I mean my God what are children watching? Who thinks that Hannah Montana and Disney are innocent? Have you watched a Disney channel show lately? Kissing, boyfriends, girlfriends, and cheating are common themes. What happened to kids just being kids???? I cannot even watch a show without shielding my child's eyes from the commercials. I am canceling our cable- I know there will be wailing and knashing of the teeth- but this is another way I can directly influence my child.

My behavior- if my children see me volunteering my time, giving, and generally being a nice person- won't that affect their lives?

Who I surround myself with- do my friends have these same common values?

Talking to them, reading books that are appropriate- like a children's bible. I just ordered Summer the "Lily Series" its a Christian series of books about a little girl. I also ordered "Six Ways to Keep the Little In Your Girl" I will update you with the info I found.

Why have I been thinking about all this? My little girl wanted her first bra- yep we went bra shopping. Now granted she really does not NEED one but the point is she is THINKING about these things (we actually just got one that is more like a sports bra with a stretchy piece of fabric). That is totally scarey for me. But at least I know there are things I can do to stop her from growing up so fast! She still watches PBS, plays with Barbies, plays outside, likes to read ALOT. OK let me go shed a few tears now...