Sex talk ids
28-Jul-2020 09:50
“But while you reassure your child that it’s natural for them to explore their body, make a point of telling them it’s something that should be done in private.” One part of teaching kids about sex some parents might find daunting is LGBTQ issues. “Kids generally don’t have a position about same-sex relationships until they are told to have one by society and culture,” licensed clinical social worker Ann Russo tells She Knows.
Russo recommends simply sharing about romantic love and attraction rather than focusing on sexual orientation.
“When a preschooler asks how babies get made, respond with simple but honest language,” says Whitney.
If you’re explaining sex in the context of heterosexual or different-sex relationships / biology, you can explain that when a person with a penis and a person with a vagina care about each other in a sexual way, they “may get naked and hug each other. The man’s semen joins with an ovum inside the woman, and a baby grows in a special place inside the mother called the uterus.’ For adults, this sounds like an awful lot to say, but for kids, it’s just another fact about nature.” Most kids are pretty inquisitive, so you might get some follow-up questions.
We tapped the experts — aka credentialed therapists — for their tips on how to talk to your kids about sex (without making everyone involved cringe the entire time).
Because according to licensed marriage and family therapist Jill Whitney, the conversation should start long before your kid is even close to their own first relationship or sexual experimentation.
The only difference you need to highlight between the various types of sexual relationships is that heterosexual sex can create a baby, and babies come from heterosexual sex or other means.
“Kids often run across porn by age 11 or even earlier, so you don’t want to wait to get the conversation started.” If you’re trying to figure out the right time to talk to your child about sex, it’s best to be guided by them.
“Even for teenagers who are in healthy relationships, it is important for them to do an internal check prior to and during any kind of sexual encounter. Kids need to know that any type of touch that invades their personal space, including hand-holding, requires consent.