What have you done successfully to shield your family from unwanted influences?

First and Foremost: Every family is different, so what works for us, may not work for you. And my family is still growing, so what is working now may not work a few years on.

In the beginning of our young family we had a time when all I seemed to do was watch TV, a terrible habit from my teenager years. Also we could afford a TV license, but wanted to be able to spend that money elsewhere, so we gave away our TV. We discovered that in the evenings we had time to talk together, we played games together, we read stories to each other, we went for walks. 12 years later and we still don't have a TV, and we love it that way. We aren't bombarded with the adverts, noise, channel surfing and other distracting problems that come with TV. All or our kids are avid readers, and they play outside most of the time, they use their imaginations, we do things together. I know that our family would be different if we had a TV, because of my teenage habits. But we also live in the UK, so in the Winter we watch loads of DVDs, there is a time and a season I suppose.

We also have family scripture reading every morning, that way we are all putting on the armor of God. My kids especially need this, I suppose all kids to, because they are heading out into the 'big bad world'.

I also find that there have been many concerns and problems solved during family prayers. One of the children will be praying and they pray for something that is worrying them, so now I know about it and can do something to help them. Without the chance to pray together, I am not sure I would have had the chance to hear their concerns.

I also try to be an involved mom. When the kids want to go over to a friends house, I go too, and chat with the other parents, we make our home inviting so that kids want to be at our house too.

So far these things seem to be working, I continue to pray for inspiration though because our families are continually changing.