Family Concerns

When the time comes to discuss teen sexuality many parents find it hard to talk to their children and attempt to steer clear of the subject. Sex however is a normal and central part of all our lives and as teens mature they will become more and more interested in sex and their own sexuality.

However, this can also be a hazardous area these days and one that can quite easily result in both health and emotional problems for our teenagers and all parents are clearly concerned about such things as teenage pregnancy and the likelihood of getting a range of sexually transmitted diseases including aids.

Many parents attempt to ignore the subject of sex and argue that this is one subject that should be covered under the heading of health or sex education in school and, while schools do indeed have a central part to play, this does not excuse you as a parent from your own overarching responsibility for informing your children about sex.

The world of sex is exciting to teenagers and they will be only too eager to explore it, but it is important that they get guidance on the subject from someone they trust and there should not be anybody they trust more than their parents. Also, sex has traditionally been something of a taboo subject and still carries a lot of the Victorian attitudes of being something that is evil and dirty. Accordingly, if you fail to talk about sex openly within the family and set in into its proper context for your teenagers then you are simply underlining the view that sex is a bad thing.

Puberty represents a time when kids will naturally begin to explore their bodies and will be inquisitive about other people’s bodies, however it is a time too when they often believe that they are doing somehow bad or which they should be feeling guilty about.

It is crucially important therefore that when parenting teens you dive in at this time and provide the answers for the string of questions which are popping into your child’s head. This is the time when you should talk openly about sex and the role which sex should play in the context of a relationship.

Of course there are many issues surrounding the subject of teen sexuality which is about far more than merely sex itself. Now is the time therefore when teenagers need to learn about not simply the dangers of engaging in unprotected sex but the much wider subject of teen relationship advice and the emotional highs and lows which can come with relationships. Critically, it is a time when they have got to view their sexuality as a normal part of the process of growing up and something that is both understood and accepted within their own family.