If your child is using drugs or alcohol. Active listening quiz for parents. Time To Talk Tool Kit. Healthy Relationships. No Place Like Home For Sex Education. 6th Grade. There's No Place Like Home … for Sex Education Newsletter #1: This Too Shall Pass You don't get it.
You pride yourself on the relative ease with which you've discussed sexual issues with your child in the past: answering questions honestly; initiating conversation; creating an environment in which sexuality is viewed as a special and positive aspect of ourselves. What happened? Suddenly, your 6th grader has decided the topic is off limits. Nothing. D.P. Such is a typical 11-year-old's response to the topic of sex.
Continue broaching the subject—keep it light, don't push. Give yourself a break. Newsletter #2: The Times They Are a Changin' Over the last several decades, our society has undergone vast changes in sexual attitudes and behaviors, leaving today's youth—and their parents—facing difficult and complex issues. Consider this: Research consistently shows that open, honest family communication about sex can reduce the risk of a child becoming one of the statistics. Peer Power © 2003. 7th Grade. There's No Place Like Home … for Sex Education Newsletter #1: Speak Up!
Remember what the middle school years were like? An emotional roller coaster: hormone madness and changing bodies; a very shaky self-concept; novel interest in the same or other sex—which is exciting, awkward, confusing—all at the same time; a simultaneous craving for and fear of new freedom … independence from mom and dad. Middle school: the wonder years. Young people wonder, "Will I ever be normal? " Clearly, life's a challenge in middle school … for all involved. For parents, there's a temptation to shy away from the subject.
Sound familiar? As parents, you're in an ideal position to clean up sexual "mythinformation. " 8th Grade. There's No Place Like Home … for Sex Education Newsletter #1: Strains and Gains Guiding children through adolescence is an incredible challenge.
Despite the wisdom gleaned from their own life experiences, parents often feel unprepared for issues currently facing teens. Lessons from our own adolescence may not hold true for today's youth. It's also true that during their children's teen years, parents are given an amazing gift: the opportunity to guide and support a young person in becoming capable and independent. "You call raising adolescents a 'gift'? " It may be tempting to equate adolescence with horror … but to the extent parents focus on the difficulties and pain, they miss the joys. For young people, two major tasks are at hand: Establishing independence—asserting themselves as separate and distinct from mom and dad.
Simultaneously, parents face their own tasks: Letting go—allowing children the freedom to develop their separate identities. Sounds good … but how to apply it? © 2003.