I recently completed the Passport2Purity weekend with my two girls ages 11 and 13. I highly recommend it to moms and dads. The P2P kit, written by Dennis and Barbara Rainey, comes with a set of CDs, a student travel journal, and a parent guide explaining the weekends itinerary, how to prepare for the sessions, and hands on activities to drive home important points.
You center the weekend around fun activities (concert, camping, spa day, fishing trip, any fun activity your child loves, even an out of town trip if you feel up to it) and in the car in between the fun activities you listen to the curriculum on CD. It provides tons of discussion topics and encourages mom/daughter or father/son to be real honest and talk about some tough but really important stuff. Here’s a video explaining what comes in the P2P kit.
https://vimeo.com/129831208
https://vimeo.com/129831208
Here’s what my girls and I did on our P2P weekend. We began our adventures Friday night at our favorite pizza place. I had kept most of the weekend’s activities a secret up until this point. During dinner I presented each daughter a gift. I wrapped up a travel journal along with a book light (so they could see their journal pages in the dark car), some colorful pens (to write in the journal- color makes writing fun), and their favorite candy (candy makes even the toughest topics bearable). When they unwrapped the gift, I explained the purpose of our girls’ weekend.
It was around Christmas time, so our first session we spend listening to the CDs driving around looking at Christmas lights. They munch on the candy and we stopped for Starbucks along the way. When we got to one of the object lessons we would make our way home where I had the supplies ready to go. We laughed, giggled, and had some excellent discussions as we drove around together. We ended the evening as I hinted at tomorrow’s adventures.
I knew the second day was going to cover some pretty heavy topics, so we started out really early with a nice breakfast together. After the next few sessions of CDs we were ready for a little relaxation and pampering, so off to the spa for manicures and pedicures.
We continued these sessions with stops for lunch and then a little fun arts and crafts break at the local pottery painting store. They chose an item to paint to remember the weekend. We included the verse Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart. After our painting was complete we were off for another session in the car.
Before our final big event of the weekend, we met Daddy for dinner. At dinner, he presented the girls with purity rings. These are the ones I ordered. They have these at your local Christian bookstore, but I needed a very small size for my youngest daughter, so I ordered the rings online at www.purityrings.com. They came in a cute box and included a purity pledge and certificate.
After all our sessions were over, it was time to celebrate. My girls love music, so I bought tickets for the Toby Mac concert. It was a great way to end our P2P weekend together.
My girls and I had so many laughs, conversations, and some awkward moments (but considering the topics that is understandable). I’m very thankful for this program because we had conversations I might not have had without these sessions. We discussed some really important topics, but most of all, I set the stage for future talks. This is just the beginning of our purity talks. I know there will be many more questions in the future, but now I feel better equipped to handle them and they feel more comfortable coming to me with their questions.
As a mom, my first priority was to see that my children accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. After that huge step, I feel this is the second most important lesson I can teach my girls. I did not want them learning these lessons from friends or the internet. I wanted them to hear it from me, and with Passport2Purity, even I was able to do this. Now, my prayer is that somewhere out in the world there are two boys going through these same important conversations with their dads.
I highly recommend this program for all preteens and parents. I ordered it on Amazon, but you can also find it at Mardel, Lifeway, and Family Christian Store.
As a mom, my first priority was to see that my children accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. After that huge step, I feel this is the second most important lesson I can teach my girls. I did not want them learning these lessons from friends or the internet. I wanted them to hear it from me, and with Passport2Purity, even I was able to do this. Now, my prayer is that somewhere out in the world there are two boys going through these same important conversations with their dads.
I highly recommend this program for all preteens and parents. I ordered it on Amazon, but you can also find it at Mardel, Lifeway, and Family Christian Store.