Recently, in a posting entitled “A Culture of Millstones,” Katharine Dalton has lamented the too-colorful language her children are exposed to in church – words like whore, prostitute, pole-dance, and sleeping around. Apparently some pastors, four in particular that she cited, think church is a good place to offer commentary on current sexual mores, but Ms. Dalton does not appreciate the back-wash when asked by her children to explain the pastor’s unfamiliar language.
Sooner or later most parents get caught unprepared for a child’s questions about something “adult.” It is uncomfortable, not because we think children will never discover the matters they query, but only because we did not think they would ask about them so soon. These moments are inevitable, unless we prefer to be so disconnected from children that they are embarrassed to ask. In the final analysis it is better that they ask than not, and it is better that they ask us than someone else. On this point Ms. Dalton and I firmly agree.
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