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.
Sending Nudes: Starting the Convo Early–3 Tips for Smart Parents
“My kid is sending nudes!!!” I hear this often, and my heart breaks every time. My first response is, “Default to love. Just love your child unconditionally.” We’ve all been blindsided with raising kids in a digital world. Once I explain this to parents and assure...
Racism in Porn: A Powerful Way to Teach Kids to Reject XXX
As critical consumers of media, we have begun to critique racism in just about every media format—movies, Twitter and Facebook feeds, and even children’s programming. But what about racism in porn? As a Clinical Psychologist, I am convinced it is well past the time...
Thinking “Not My Child!” Won’t Protect Your Kids from Sex Trafficking: Here are 3 Ways that Work
As more news stories about the reality of sex trafficking spread, parents often ask me, “What can we do to protect kids from sex trafficking?” What we know from the data is that any child or teen is vulnerable, but there are specific factors that make someone even...
10 Sneaky Ways Porn Will Target Your Kids in 2021
Porn targets kids even in the most trusted and mainstream places. Protecting children from it can seem like a game of whack-a-mole. That’s why our first post of the year always lists the sneaky ways the porn industry is targeting your innocent kids. In this post...
App Safety Challenge! 7-Day Step by Step Guide to Preview Apps for Your Kids
Before giving kids access to any app, parents should download it, use it, and explore every nook and cranny for seven straight days. In this post we’ll show you step by step what that might look like so that you can thoroughly vet any apps your kids are wanting to...
Help Shut Down Pornhub with 3 Easy Actions
The New York Times recently published an article that exposes the child sexual abuse videos that Pornhub profits from everyday. We applaud Nicholas Kristof and the New York Times for boldly printing the truth and sharing the victims’ stories. “[Pornhub] is infested...
Smartphone Gift Guide: Which are Safest for Teens? Compare Android, iPhone, Gabb, ClearPhone & Pinwheel
Thinking about being a holiday hero by getting your teen or tween a smartphone? Most teens want one, but a smartphone can be a big risk--opening them up to pornography, sexting, cyberbullying, and online predators. Before buying that Black Friday deal, consider...
Today’s Porn Industry: 5 Things Every Parent Needs to Know
I often say, “No child deserves to face the porn industry alone!” But what exactly is the porn industry. And what should you know about it? Parents should know that the porn industry is powerful and it’s coming after your child’s eyeballs, time and sexual template,...
Collin Kartchner: 11 Ways to #SavetheKids and Honor His Memory
Collin Kartchner was on fire to #SavetheKids. Save the kids from what? The mental health harms of social media, pornography and bullying. The loneliness created when technology erodes family relationships. A life-sucking smartphone addiction. Collin...
Erotic Lit and Young Minds–How Hyper-Sexualized Fiction Harms Girls and Boys
I recently had the opportunity to interview Lacy Bentley. Lacy is a Life Coach helping women overcome compulsive love and relationship patterns and has been in recovery for ten years for “love addiction”. You can read more about Lacy in her bio below. In this...
Parent Alert! Schools Offer Erotic Lit to 5 Year Olds through Library Apps! 5 Ways to Protect Your Kids
Nearly every school-issued device comes with a library app, which seems like a safe and reasonable choice for educational devices. But one parent alerted us that her kids had EASY access to erotic lit on iPads and Chromebooks issued to kids ages 5-11! We checked it...
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 Kristen:...
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.