Help your teen:
When to talk to your teens:
How to talk them:
Guiding your teen:
Read Barbara's blog: NurseBarb.com
Beyond the Birds and Bees
By Barbara Dehn NP
The goal when talking to your children about sex, no matter what their age, is to help them navigate their way and make safe and healthy choices with themselves and with others.
We want to help our children:
Many parents aren't sure when to talk to their children about sex and may wait until some magical perfect moment. This approach may backfire, as kids are often curious about how their bodies are changing and how they feel about themselves and others as early as elementary school.
I don't recommend that you wait. Talk to your kids early and often especially while doing other activities like hiking, cooking together or in the car. When they don't have to make eye contact with you, they'll feel more like opening up.
It's really about listening and not talking.
If you want to lecture your kids and teens about their bodies and sex, that's a sure fire way to get them to clam up. It's much more effective to listen and ask a few open ended questions.
You can't be with them all the time
Having conversations with your teens about sex is all about guiding them to make their own decisions. After all, you can't be with them every minute of every day to make sure that they're making good choices.
Our job as parents is to use our experience and wisdom to help guide our children away from age inappropriate behaviors, while remembering that as they get older, they can handle more responsibility while staying safe. I think that it's crucial to respect themselves and to respect others. For more information, please see NurseBarb.com.
There are many good books for parents that will help you understand your teen. One of my favorites, You're Grounded was written by a teen. You can also access more advice from her blog: www.OnTeensToday.com
