Protect Young Minds® Blog
The best way to keep your family safe from pornography is to stay up-to-date with the latest news, resources, tips, and threats. Our blog will help you do just that.
The Shocking Tactics Sex Traffickers Use to Trap Your Kids and 5 Ways You Can Protect Them
Recently I had the opportunity to interview Russ Tuttle of The Stop Trafficking Project. Watch our interview or read the transcript below. https://youtu.be/ARcr9kS8x40 Note: The transcription of this interview has been edited for clarity. Kristen: Hi everyone! It’s...
Parent Alert! Porn Spam on Your Kid’s Google Drive?! 3 Things You Need to Know Now
Do your kids have a Chromebook or a Google account for school or personal use? If so, they also have access to Google Drive. And that means your kids may have a direct and unfiltered path for predators to send them sexually explicit material. Unfortunately, there is...
Instagram Safety Upgrade! Discover New Tool to Protect Youth
Instagram is making an effort to create a safer space for its users--especially for youth! Earlier this summer we warned you about how Instagram is a popular tool for child predators and sex traffickers. We’ve also shared with you the dark side of...
Popular MMO Games: Should You Let Your Kids Play? 4 Guidelines to Increase Their Safety
Massively Multiplayer Online games (or MMOs) are video games that get their excitement from online interaction between players (like Fortnite and World of Warcraft). If your teen wants to play an MMO, you might worry that they'll become a video game zombie. Or worse,...
4 Body Safety Rules to Protect Kids Ages 5-10
Child sexual abuse happens all the time and it’s gut-wrenching. And child-on-child sexual abuse is on the rise. This growing crisis is fueled by pornography. But there are some things you CAN DO as a parent to protect your child. Teaching simple body safety rules and...
3 Ways Bark Protects Your Child from Porn
Today’s post comes from our friends over at Bark. While no tech solution is foolproof and we emhasize the importance of helping your child install an INTERNAL filter, we’re also big fans of using the amazing tech tools available to help protect your family from...
Chromebook Safety 101: 5 Easy Tips for a Better School Year
Millions of kids have been issued devices for school this year whether they’re learning at home, in-person or a combination of the two. Chromebooks are often the device of choice because they’re an economical option. With increased access to the internet...
Juvenile Judge Warns Parents! Is Your Child at Risk for Harmful Sexual Behavior? (Solid Advice for Prevention and Resources)
Several years ago, I was watching the news and saw the story of a father who had shot and killed his 14-year-old son because the son had sexually abused his younger sibling. That story was profoundly tragic to me. Not only did that family have to deal with the...
TikTok: The Sound of an App Stealing Your Kid’s Life Away
Today we bring you a guest post by Collin Kartchner. Collin is a child advocate, social activist and founder of the world-wide movement #SavetheKids. Last year he spoke roughly 500 times at schools and communities across the US and Canada on the dangers of kids using...
Gateway to Porn? Sexual Objectification in Video Games
Today’s post focuses on sexual objectification in video games. We talked with a gaming mom to get her take on the issue: I first saw objectification in video games when I was about 10 years old, playing the newly released Tomb Raider with my cousins at a sleepover....
Instagram Alert! Are Sex Traffickers Targeting Your Kids?
It’s no secret that there’s been a rise in online child sexual exploitation during this pandemic. Combine that with summertime and there’s simply more time and opportunity for kids to be online. That extra time online also means that your children can be targeted by...
How to Discipline in the Digital Age: 5 Top Tips for Parents
The word discipline literally means, “Training to ensure proper behavior.” When it comes to pornography, discipline is training to ensure safe behavior. All of us want our kids to be safe, but how do we achieve safety from pornography in a digital age? The 5 Steps to...
Racism Is Rampant in Porn: 3 Beautiful Ways to Help Kids Reject Both
Did you know that porn is racist? It’s true! Not only is pornography teaching toxic messages about sex, it’s also a cesspool of racism. In fact, pornography is rife with racist stereotypes. And children who view it are swallowing racist messages--making pornography...
7 Digital Parenting Books to Help You Raise Screen-Smart Kids
There are so many great digital parenting books out there, but so little time! Since we can’t read ALL the books, some members of our staff each picked a different digital parenting book to read and summarize. We all liked the books we read and would recommend them to...
Autism and Porn: A 5-Step Game Plan for Protecting Special Kids
Many parents have asked us how to tackle the topic of pornography with children who have autism. Not much has been written on the topic of autism and porn, but there are some special considerations to keep in mind for these special kids! Never had I become more...
Screen Time and the Brain: Expert Advice on Electronic Addiction and Teaching Kids Healthy Tech Habits
I recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Christy Kane to talk about screen time and the brain. You can watch the recording of our interview or read the transcript (edited for clarity) with links to other helpful articles. https://youtu.be/_GLclnQUdq0 ...
Sexual Assault Nurse Links Porn to Child-on-Child Abuse: Interview with National Expert Heidi Olson
Heidi Olson is a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) who shines the light on the links between pornography and child-on-child sexual abuse and online sextortion. Her job at a Kansas City hospital involves examining children who are the victims of sexual abuse. As a...
7 Tactics a Child Predator Uses to Lure Kids: Red Flag Phrases Every Parent Needs to Know
This is a guest post written by Kimberly King, an award-winning author, teacher, and authority on the subject of sexual abuse prevention. As parents, we all want to keep our kids safe from harm. We teach our kids to wash their hands, cover their mouths, buckle up the...
Online Safety Refresher! 3 Checklists to Protect Your Kids
Now’s the perfect time to brush up on your online safety strategies! In fact, several of our readers asked for an Online Safety Refresher, and that’s exactly what we developed! (In just a few minutes, you can go from fear to fearless--so check it out!) These three...
Miranda Sings: YouTuber Promotes Raunchy Content Like Incest but Dodges Parental Controls
We're grateful one of our readers warned us about a YouTuber who is popular with kids who now has her own Netflix show. The child-like main character, Miranda, is played by an adult and the episodes often contain very adult themes. But with an obviously young...
Coronavirus Has Your Family Overwhelmed and Exhausted? Slow Down and Do These 3 Things to Find Calm in the Chaos
I don’t know about you, but the Protect Young Minds team is feeling it. The communal panic is palpable. Parents are scrambling. Children are disoriented. New COVID-19 schedules are flying around the internet making every parent feel like they now have to embrace...
COVID-19 School Closures: Our Best Tips for Digital Safety, Emotional Wellness and Family Time
Has your school announced a closure? Are you worried? Your first question might be, “What am I going to do with these kids?!” Already an estimated 22,000 schools have closed or are scheduled to close due to COVID-19 and yours may be next. Honestly, this is very...
I Blew Up At My Kid!!! 5 Steps to Heal Your Relationship When You React Badly
We’ve all been there: our child does something inappropriate, but how we respond is also not so great. When we discover our child is using pornography it can be particularly difficult not to react in ways that alienate our children. The question arises; what can we do...
Best Phones for Kids: Parents Give Honest Reviews on Gabb Wireless
Note: This article was originally published 2/20/2020 and updated on 6/11/2020. Last fall Gabb Wireless launched a new phone designed especially for preteens. It generated a lot of attention from parents seeking the best phones for their kids. Tech sites called it the...
Healthy Sex vs. Porn Sex: 7 Crucial Comparisons to Teach Your Kid (Before XXX Hijacks Their Future)
Today’s parents are competing with the porn industry for the hearts and minds of their children. Tragically, pornography is manipulating the way children think and feel about sex. That’s why kids need a powerful and persuasive comparison between healthy sex and porn...
Is YouTube (Finally) Protecting Children?
We love sharing good news! Here's some good news about the new YouTube changes! After a $170 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), YouTube is finally making some changes in an effort to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act...
Booty Shaking & Sexy Costumes in Children’s Dance: How to Find Healthy Studios That Won’t Objectify Your Kid
This guest post was written by Mary Bawden of DA:NCE (Dance Awareness: No Child Exploited). Is there anything more innocent than a child joyfully dancing? Every spring I’m over the moon with excitement while watching my grandchildren participate in their recitals....
About Us
Led by Kristen A. Jenson, author of the best-selling children’s book Good Pictures Bad Pictures, Protect Young Minds™ (PYM) seeks to help parents “porn-proof” their kids before they come across highly addictive and easily accessible internet pornography.