9 Ways To Talk About Sex With Your Tweens And Teens

What kids think about sex might surprise you, but what they’re doing sexually—and when they’re doing it—might surprise you even more.

In a study this year of more than a 1,000 tweens (kids between the ages 11 and 14), nearly half said they’d had a boy- or girlfriend, and one in four said that oral sex or going “all the way” is part of a tween romance.

The parents’ view? Only 7 percent of parents surveyed in this study think their own child has gone any further than “making out.”parenting teens

The whole subject of sex is so delicate that some parents put off talking to kids about it, believing their child is still too young, or because they’re not sure what to say.

They “finally sit down to have the Big Talk,” says Dr. Mark Schuster, chief of general pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston, “and it turns out their teen is already having sex.” (The average age of first intercourse in the United States is 16, according to the Centers for Disease Control)

The good news is that there’s plenty of evidence indicating that kids whose parents do discuss sex [child sex education] with them are more cautious than their peers—more likely to put off sex or use contraception.

They also have fewer partners. Coaching for parents helps, as well. Parents who participated in a training program about how to have those difficult conversations, Schuster reports, were six times more likely than a control group to have discussed condoms with their children.

So what did the parents learn? Here are nine “talking sex” tips.

Read more at Newsweek

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