Most of us agree on the need to teach sexual awareness to our children. The thing is, most of them seem pretty aware already.
Teens with raging hormones can’t seem to get sex off the brain, needing little more than a suggestive picture, commercial, pair of dirty socks or acne gel to spark the awareness.
Kids also are constantly exposed to sex by the media. With the birth of Jamie-Lynn Spears’s daughter, Bristol Palin’s pregnancy, pregnancy pacts in schools and movies like “Juno,” teen pregnancies seem normal.
Whether the pacts or movies are real or fodder for gossip, the fact remains that kids are surrounded by sex and possibly getting mixed messages.
Talking to your kids about sex again, for the first time, or in a new way is more important now than ever. The U.S. teen pregnancy rates have risen for the first time in years, three in 10 girls become pregnant before age 20, and 47 percent of high school students have had sex.
When initially stressing out over how to begin your sex chat, consider what message you are trying to send.
Perhaps you prefer to teach abstinence, or safe sex and contraception, or the right time to become sexually active.
Whatever morals, values and expectations you wish to present, your message will be stronger if you’ve thought about how you feel prior to talking with your child.
Read more at The Winona Daily News
