Hi parents!
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Allow me to formally introduce myself, my name is Tori and I am 18 years old. I graduated this May from Garaway High School in Sugarcreek, Ohio. This fall I will be beginning the next chapter of my life at Bowling Green State University; majoring in Sales & Service marketing. All my life I was raised in the church and have always had a love for our God as well as a desire to make a difference. For the past few years now I have felt like God has been telling me that the area I am destined to make a difference in is that of young girls; "tweens" if you will. Our world is overflowing with hateful messages, disturbing content, and misleading morals. I see a lack of good examples for young girls to look up too. There is so much content out there directed towards high schoolers. I believe that elementary and middle school is an entirely different stage of life to tackle. With the resources, knowledge, and support that I have I am going to attempt to provide your girls with a safe place to learn, grow and explore all that God has to offer, we are going to uncover God's truths that the world so often covers up with what it tells us is 'cool'. Elementary school and middle school were very challenging times for me. I hit many lows and sadly kept most of my problems to myself most of the time. I know what your girls are going through, I have been there, and I have a fire burning inside of me that wants to be someone that can help teach your daughters to lean on God and make the right choices during these trying times of their lives.
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Parents, I would like to give you my opinion, please take it however you would like. The world we live in today is a technology dependent world. Many of your children have multiple social media accounts that they spend a very large amount of time on each and every day. At the time I hated that my parents kept close tabs on what I was doing on my phone, what I was watching on TV, and how much time I was allowed each day. Now that I am older I am so thankful that my parents cared about me enough to keep such a close eye on who I was talking to, what we were talking about, and what messages I was paying attention too. It protected me. If my parents hadn't been a part of those parts of my life during that time it is hard to say if I would have made all of the same choices. You may think that your daughters have a good head on their shoulders and that that will keep them safe, but with all of the harmful things that our world is depicting as "cool", peer pressure, and vile content that pops up on their screens without even asking for it there are too many temptations to rely solely on the gut feeling that your daughters are smart girls. Protect them. It may make parenting hard and there will be days that it will challenge your relationship but I promise it will be worth it and one day your precious girls will thank you. Everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes we learn key lessons because of them, however even just four years later there are temptations and influences on your child's screens that are far more dangerous then there was when I was their age.
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The hate in our world is defeating. It is my hope that through this blog and sanctuarytwelvetwo social media pages I will be able to provide a positive light and daily reminders of God's love on your child's screen.
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Feeling empowered and hopeful,
Tori D.
Tori D.
New Blogger, Student at Bowling Green State University