In today’s Parent Connect Podcast we will be sharing our favorite resources when it comes to the topics of sex and dating.
Talking with your child about sex can be well… overwhelming, awkward, and simply embarrassing. While we can’t take away all of the embarrassment or awkwardness we can help you with the overwhelming part. When you have resources that can help you figure out what to talk about and when, you can start to get a game plan on how to have these conversations with your child. This approach will help you take the steps necessary to beginning those crucial conversations.
We have found that when you use books or videos to lead the conversations it helps cut down the awkwardness and embarrassment of the conversation. Your eyes can be focused on the book, rather than each other, which might help the time to actually be a conversation. It might also be beneficial for your child to see that others are thinking and doing the same thing as you.
Here are a couple of tips that we recommend as you start to navigate these topics:
- Start praying about your conversation now. Ask Holy Spirit to lead and guide the time together with your child. Ask Him to give you ideas on how to make the conversation go well.
- Do your research. Read books and ask friends or mentors how they had these conversations with your child. Learning from others will help you set up the night for success.
- Do something while you talk. Buy your child ice cream to enjoy while you talk. Have a picnic in a park or go on a walk. Try to make the environment private but comfortable instead of making it feel like a lecture.
- Keep the door open. Fortunately, this is not a once and done conversation. Yes I did mean to say fortunately versus unfortunately. Sex and dating should be an on going conversation that you revisit time and time again with your child. For one, it is way too much information to cover in one session. This will take off some of the pressure of talking about everything all at once. Secondly, at different ages children need a different level of information and depth. It is important to keep the topics age appropriate. Think about it in layers, each year adding another layer so in the end they have a solid, biblical foundation in which to make decisions.
You can do this!! Check out today’s Parent Connect podcast to help you know what resources are out there to use. The next episode will help you figure out how to start “The Talk” with your child. Come join the conversation!
Check out this to see a list of the resources we talked about in the episode.
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