ERI LA Socio-Political Blog

When it comes to talking about teen sexuality all too many parents find it very difficult to talk to their children and attempt to steer clear of the subject. However, sex is a normal and important element of most people’s lives and as teenagers mature they will become increasingly interested in the subject of sex and their own sexuality.

However, this can also be a perilous area nowadays and one that can quite easily result in both emotional and health problems for our children and nearly all parents are clearly worried about such things as teenage pregnancy and the odds of getting a range of sexually transmitted diseases including hiv.

Many parents attempt to ignore the subject of sex and insist that this is one subject that should be taught under the heading of sex or health education in school and, despite the fact that schools do have a significant part to play, this cannot release you as a parent from your own overreaching responsibility for teaching your children about sex.

The topic of sex is exciting to children and they will be only too eager to explore it, but it is vital that they receive guidance on the subject from someone they can trust and there should not be anybody they trust more than a parent. Additionally, sex has conventionally been something of a forbidden subject and still carries a lot of the Victorian attitudes of being something which is bad and unclean. Accordingly, if you fail to talk about sex openly within the family and put in into its proper context for your children then you are merely strengthening the view that sex is a bad thing.

Puberty is a time when kids are naturally going to explore their bodies and are also going to be curious about other people’s bodies, however it is a time too when they frequently believe that they are doing somehow wrong or that they should be ashamed of.

It is crucially important therefore that when parenting teens you step in at this point and provide the answers to the many questions which are popping into your kid’s head. This is the time to talk freely about sex and about the role that sex plays in the framework of a relationship.

There are of course many issues surrounding the subject of teen sexuality and it is about much more than simply sex itself. This is a time therefore when children need to learn about not merely the dangers of unprotected sex but the much wider subject of teen relationship advice and the emotional roller-coaster ride which can accompany relationships. Most importantly, it is also a time when they have to see their sexuality as a normal part of growing up and something that is both understood and accepted within their own family.