Posts tagged Mary Flo Ridley

Back to Basics… Your Message

May 11, 2015 · Filed under Family, Parenting, Reproduction, Sex Talk, Where do babies come from?, Your Message · Tagged , , , , , ,

Do you ever feel the need to get back to basics? Reviewing the fundamentals on how we intend to teach our children about sex can be helpful to either get us started, or remind us of what we still need to do. For the next few posts, I am going to be going over the strategy that I give parents for talking to their children about sex. There are five simple steps that make up the foundational information. If you have been to one of my talks, you may already know what they are:

  • Your Message
  • Vocabulary
  • Story of Birth
  • Seeds and Eggs
  • Conception

So today, we will start with YOUR MESSAGE…

Your child may be 4 or 5 or 7 and you wonder how to answer questions like: “Mommy, how does the baby get out of you?” or “How did that baby get in?” If you aren’t prepared, this can be heart-stopping! And yet this is a time in their life when they are naturally curious, and it’s an excellent opportunity for you to begin tiny and age appropriate conversations with them on the subject of sex. Are you prepared to capture these teachable moments? What should you do first to get ready?

#1… Your Message

The first step doesn’t involve your children, but it is the most important step.

You need to answer THIS question: “What is the main thing you WANT your children to know about sex?”

Most parents would agree that the messages in the culture are NOT the ones they hope their children adopt for their own, as they are confusing, degrading, and even disturbing. So what IS the positive, healthy message you would like your children to have? If you are a person of faith, what is the Biblical message you believe you want to send? I suggest you take some time to consider this very carefully.

Consider what the purpose(s) of sex may be? What was it designed to be? These are deep but worthwhile considerations, because being grounded in this message will help you to answer your children’s’ questions with clarity. They will need more than the basic biology, they also need context and the reasons for why any of this matters.

If you are a person of faith, you may want to go to Genesis 1:26-31 and then Genesis 2:24-25.Here in the first chapters of the Bible, God tells us the simple and beautiful truth of sexuality and what His purposes are. The beauty and the boundaries of sex are made clear here. Where then does the fear in talking to our children come from? We’ll deal with that later… but for now, let’s consider the joy of this parenting task. YOU… not porn, not the internet, not the neighbor down the street, but YOU get the privilege of giving your child their first impression of what this is all about. First impressions are powerful.

If faith is not your main interest, then consider what major themes you may want to focus on… their future health and well being? The purpose of their reproductive parts and how to respect and take care of them? Whatever matters most to you will be the foundation of your message.

YOUR MESSAGE… What is it?

What expectation and hopes do you have for your children? What will their image of sex be as a result of growing up in your home? This is quite personal, and consequently the messages will vary from family to family. But the important thing is that you are confident that YOUR message reflects YOUR values, and what you truly believe you desire to communicate to your children. After you have taken some time to think about this, reduce those thoughts into one sentence.

Here are a few examples:

  • “Sex is a gift from God intended for marriage”
  • “Sex is an act of love, and can lead to babies”
  • “Sex was made by God for oneness in marriage, and for children”
  • “Sex is like that electrical plug over there… you touch it, you die!”… I was kidding on that last one.

You will find that developing a clear message will give you much more confidence to speak to your children, because you WANT them to get this specific impression and it’s a positive healthy image that comes from the people who love them the most. YOU! You may not necessarily announce your message to your children just yet, but as you will come to see, your conversations will reflect this message.

The more exited you are about this message, the less reluctant you will be to talk to your children… and that’s what we are look for. Starting the conversation. Next week, we will consider the next step in these conversations: VOCABULARY.

I’d love for you to share with me some of your messages, or let me know how having a message has helped you with your conversations. Always great to hear from you!

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Summer Reading List

May 25, 2014 · Filed under Adoption, Birth, Conception, Family, Parenting, Reproduction, Sex Talk, Summer Reading, Where do babies come from? · Tagged , , , ,

Summer is upon us, and with it will be a the opportunity for conversations that we just don’t seem to have time for during the school year. Have you thought about what you hope to accomplish this summer… when it comes to conversations with your children about how babies are born, or how babies are made? With more family time will come some not-to-be-missed opportunities. With young children there is a window of curiosity about how all of this works, and that window begs you to come in with great information and wisdom for these little ones about how fearfully and wonderfully they were made.

Perhaps a quiet time with books is just the ticket into that window. Here are a few suggestions to get conversations started.

I discovered these beautiful books last year, and really love the intricate illustrations:

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They are perfect for conversations about seeds and eggs, and the beauty of God’s design for reproducing plants and animals.

Here is a fun and sweet story written by Ann Higgginbottom who did so much to help me write my second book, God’s Very Good Design. This is a true story of her childhood experience at the beach discovering turtle eggs. Also beautifully illustrated.

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Simple picture books that can bring up conversations about babies…to remind of us what life is like for a baby, and how we have grown!

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Here are two books I highly recommend for reading to preschool or early elementary children who are asking the big questions. OR if they have never asked, and you feel like it’s time for them to know before someone else tells them. I read these books to my children, and I think they are wonderful. The first is the story of birth (recommended to 3-5 year olds)  and the second is the story of conception (recommended for 5-8 year olds). It’s always a good idea to look through the books yourself to be sure you are comfortable with the language and illustrations before you read them to your children.

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Of course, reading my books is a good idea too…because your children need to hear YOUR VOICE and both Simple Truths and God’s Very Good Design will help you train YOUR voice for the conversations you hope to have this summer! Just remember that these two books are NOT for children, but for YOU…their parents.

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Happy reading!

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What’s the hurry?

March 4, 2010 · Filed under Timing, Your Message · Tagged ,

This last week was a mini-marathon for me & I loved every moment! Speaking 5 times in 7 days may be a record, but what a privilege to meet such wonderful parents!

One dad gave me a great idea that I want to pass along. We were talking about how we can help our kids understand delayed gratification vs. instant gratification. How do we teach them that it’s really BETTER to wait? What kind of things help them to exercise those muscles that strengthen their ability to wait?

His idea: On family vacations he gives his 4 children some spending money. Let’s say he gives each child $25.00. He and his wife let them know this is THEIR money, and they can spend it any way they like, whenever they wish. If they spend all of it at the first Cracker Barrel they come to …that is OK. But they are only getting $25.00 for the trip. Now…here is the lesson part:  He also tells his children that whatever part of the $25.00 they come home with, the parents will double.

Hmmm…so it’s better to spend wisely, and maybe even not spend at all? If I spend $10.00 on a trinket, and bring home $15.00…I can get $30.00!

He said that the first time they were given $25.00, they did spend it very quickly, but by their 3rd family vacation, the older children had learned that the coolest way to use the money was to examine all of their choices, and think about what $50.00 could buy at home. He saw a huge shift in the mental process of seeing+wanting=buying….. change into……. seeing+wanting+thinking=waiting.

Brilliant!!

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“Did you wait?”

February 15, 2010 · Filed under Family, Sex Talk, Your Message · Tagged , ,

Last Friday was the most SPECTACULAR snow day in the history of Dallas…who can be expected to sit inside and blog when you can take a walk in the snow? Besides, all the young parents I’m writing to were rolling up snowballs and dressing snowmen.

So Frequent Question Friday has been officially postponed until….today!

Because you had to wait I’m going to give you a doozy of a question. I get this almost every time I speak. If I don’t get it in the ‘raise your hand’ question time, then I usually get it from someone who comes up to ask privately.

Here is the question: “What if I didn’t wait for marriage to have sex, but I think that it would be the very best thing for my child to do that?” “What will I say when they ask me if I waited?”

First of all, please don’t let the fear of this question paralyze you from entering into important conversations with your child. When they are very young, and you are explaining birth and conception, and the beauty of God’s design in reproduction, they are probably not going to ask you if you waited. They may, however, ask when the pre-teen and teen conversations happen.

Here are a few suggestions that I have given parents. They are not perfect, but they may help you think through how to respond to this question. Walking toward your most feared questions instead of running away is very important.

“When I was young, my parents didn’t talk to me about sex. I didn’t understand what it was all about until I already had some regrets. That is one reason why I have been talking to you about this since you were 4.”

“I was not as successful at this as I’m hoping you will be. I got all caught up in pleasing others and not taking care of myself…that was a mistake.”

“Sometimes we learn by our mistakes…I hope you’ll learn from mine, and you will not have to make your own. My biggest mistake was succumbing to peer pressure. If you make some of the same mistakes, my fear is that the consequences for you will be much more devastating. When I was growing up there were 4 sexually transmitted diseases, and today there are 24….but the heartache is probably the same.”

“I totally messed up, and didn’t see sex the way God sees sex. Now that I do…I only want what is good for you. I want you to enter marriage without the baggage that I had to deal with.”

My advice to parents is to  approach this with tender honesty. You don’t need to give all the details, and remember…this is YOUR family. You can handle this however you think is best, I just hear a lot of parents panicking about the thought of having this conversation.

Try to remember…this subject is much more about their future and not so much about your past.

Also, that life isn’t always so heavy…snowman anyone?

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Meet the Fam…

January 24, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged

OK…between NFL playoff games I  was browsing through my blog, and realized that this will be post #25!!!  How do  I celebrate?

Like I celebrate every other milestone…bring in the family! Oh…you all haven’t met my family yet? Well, here they are:

Looking at this picture, Dave is the proud Papa right in the middle. Dave and I met in 1979,  married in 1980, and will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary this July. He is less talkative, more athletic, better read, more disciplined, and has more of a sweet tooth than I do. He runs almost every morning, then makes coffee for me, prays for our family, and works for Southwest Airlines with a passion. If he has another love…it’s golf. He dreams of Scotland, and of St. Andrews. I’m not too jealous…because it makes him so happy, and his golf friends are some of my favorite people. I love to watch the Masters with him, but I’m not a fan of that Disney-golf-challenge-show-thing that he loves.

God has blessed us in a thousand ways with our three children… Meg, Jill and Davis.

Meg will be 28 this year…wow.. that’s how old I was when she was born! (She is to the left of Dave, in the green ). After graduating from UVA as an English major, and interning for Laura Bush in D.C.,  Meg went to South Carolina to serve the church, and is currently the assistant to the pastor at the Downtown Presbyterian Church. Happily married to darling Travis in 2007…they live in Greenville, S.C. with their handsome, male, large-ish, yellow lab, Hatch. 

 Jill, will be 25 this  year….how can that be? ( Far right in the picture) Jill graduated from Furman University as an Art History major, and then got her nursing degree.  Jill has been working at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis as a Pediatric oncology nurse for the last 6 months. Also happily married since 2007, she and her precious husband, Ryan are moving this week to Charlotte, NC with their sweet, female, small-ish yellow lab, Callie.

Our son, Davis is 21 and is a junior at Clemson University (far left in the picture). He is a political science major who loves music, sports, writing, and his friends. His dream year would be to join his friends at the Masters in the spring, followed by a fishing trip to Colorado in the summer, a fall FULL of football, and then home for the holidays…in front of the fire.

As you get to know us, you’ll hear a lot more about our flaws and quirks. We’ve certainly got our share!

We also have pet stories that may turn you against us…but just know that on my tombstone my children have agreed that it should say, “she tried”.

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