If you have a teen or tween, there are a lot of big issues out there. You have to be concerned with sex, drugs, drinking, social networking, who your kids hang out with, and what they’re hearing from the media.
It’s been shown that parents who talk frequently and openly about embarrassing or potentially frightening subjects engender an atmosphere of trust at home. Their kids understand they can speak their mind and not get shot down. And they learn that their parents may disagree with them, or may not allow them to do certain things, but that they have an open forum to discuss anything and everything.
Where should you start talking? At the dinnertable, in the car, while watching TV or listening to the news together, as you poke your head into their bedrooms to say goodnight—anywhere that seems right to you!
Read on for ways to get started on the conversations...
karen atkinson 10/15/08
With their extended family (aunt, uncle, grandma) my boys saw a movie where a young woman had sexual relationships with two men she was dating. I told my teens that this really bothered me. One piped up and said "I know what you are going to say, you shouldn't have sex until you're married." Good point, but what I told them is that you can't possibly be in love with two people and that a sexual relationship is for one special person to whom you are committed.
As a mother of boys, I have always tried to set the bar high (no sex until marriage). It's hard to move the bar up, but it can always come down.
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