What Parents Need to Know About Today's Teens and Sex

Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption & Foster Care

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Teens and sex are a scary topic for lots of parents. How can we impact our kids' decisions and what do we say? Join our conversation today with Dr. Debby Herbenick, a Provost Professor at the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, where she leads the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior. She is the author of Yes Your Kid: What Parents Need to Know About Today’s Teens and Sex.
In this episode, we cover:

• What do you believe a parent's role should be in sex education?
• How do you become an askable parent?
• How to talk with our kids about sex without sounding overly judgmental but also convey your values.
• 5 minutes a week conversations.
• The importance of having high-quality books on puberty and sexuality around the house.
• When to start talking about sex with kids?
• How to talk with young people about consent
• Impact of technology (internet, social media, ubiquitous cell phones, etc.) on sexual development.
• What are reasonable parental rules surrounding technology usage?
• Taking and sharing sexual images--how common?
  • How should parents even start talking with their child about nude images?
  • At what age should we start this conversation
  • How to share the downside
• Pornography or sexually explicit media
  • How common do kids access porn, and at what ages?
  • Is viewing porn bad for kids?
  • At what age should parents start talking with kids about pornography?
  • What should parents say about porn?
  • How to keep our kids from viewing porn?
  • How to respond if we catch our kid watching porn or know that they have viewed it?
• Having these discussions when we haven’t had a lifetime of raising this child?

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