Talking to your kids about sex is difficult, uncomfortable and awkward. It is for every parent. You are not alone in feeling this way. I know it would be easier to just skip this part of parenting altogether and pretend your child does not need to hear about sex from you. After all, it will be just as uncomfortable for him as it is for you.
But I want to challenge you to avoid this temptation of skipping “The Talk” with your child. Because if you don’t teach your child about sex, someone else will.
This is inevitable. Your child is going to hear about sex eventually. And probably much earlier than you think. But from whom? Only time can tell, but it may be a classmate who hears about sex from her older sister. It could be a television show. It could be the internet. It could be their sex ed teacher in middle school. In our culture today, we are bombarded with talk and messages about sex all the time, and your child will be educated on it one day, in one way or another. But be encouraged, moms and dads! You have the power to get in front of the ongoing conversation and control the message IF you’re proactive.
No one has a greater influence over your child than you. For the rest of her life, what you say and do will mean more to her than what she sees a friend or coach or mentor say and do. Her attachment to you was formed from birth and that attachment is always there in one form or another.
This is why you must be the one to answer your child’s questions about sex. Because if you don’t, the culture will. And considering the over-sexualized culture we live in today, you certainly do not want the culture teaching your child its own version of what they need to know about sex.