101 Questions Kids Really Ask

A few weeks ago, I received a copy of a wonderful question and answer book on sexuality that was put together by Mary H. Halter, founder of Healthy Edudynamics, an organization that educates young people by providing them with the knowledge and space to develop a healthy respect for their own bodies and the bodies of others. Set up in chapters focusing on the real questions that kids of all ages ask, the answers provide parents and educators, and even kids themselves, with accurate information that can help guide them through puberty.

While the questions from the serious (What would happen to the baby if a pregnant woman did use drugs?) to the more innocent (Why do girls’ breasts grow bigger and boys’ don’t?), there are also questions that are pretty funny, from an adult perspective but can seem quite important – and perhaps scary – to a child (How many minutes do you have to stay in sex?)

Mary provides honest, accurate and age appropriate responses which parents can alter for their own children depending on the situation and how much your child is able to comprehend.

101 Questions Kids Really Ask…And the Answers They Need to Know is available through the Healthy Edudynamics website, along with a DVD that provides a comprehensive health education program for homes, schools, churches and community organizations.

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home

When Did This Turn Into a Sex Blog?

Perhaps from the lack of sex I’m actually having, I’ve turned to reading about sex and discussing it here on my blog.

Oh well. I’m getting satisfaction and pleasure from my writing (not in that way), so I feel the need to continue but will try not to overdo the sex talk.

Speaking of sex talk, people all over the world are talking about sex and education, and teens, thanks to the recent announcement about Sarah Palin’s new status as grandmother-to-be. That’s right, I’m focusing instead on her role in the family matter rather than her daughter’s. I have my opinions on the situation, but who am I to talk? Enough people are doing that already.

I do, however, feel the need to remind everyone, no matter what our political or religious views, about how important it is to talk to our children – from a young age – about sex and providing them with opportunities to discuss questions they have. I can’t stress enough to my young son how I want him to be able to talk to me about anything. Even at his young age, I’m trying to open the doors of communication between us so that when the time comes for those difficult, if not awkward conversations, it’ll be less likely to be an embarrassing discussion (for either of us).

Clearly, if you read this blog, I’m open to talking about my views on, well, pretty much everything, so there’s probably less likelihood that my son will impregnate a young girl before they turn 18, right? WRONG. Just because I am open to discussing issues about sex, contraception, birth control, abstinence and giving him all of the information necessary to make his own decisions, they will in fact be his own decisions and regardless of how safe and smart young people are, life happens.

Alright, I said I wasn’t going to share my thoughts on the whole matter, and I haven’t, really. Have I?

By the way, for those living in the San Diego area, I’m teaching a parenting workshop in just a few weeks on this very topic: Speaking to Young People about Sex. It’s not easy for everyone to be as open as I am about these sorts of things, especially with children. I’m hoping that the course will help parents understand their sexual values and focus a bit more on what types of information they want to share with their children before their child comes to them with questions.

Do you talk to your children about pregnancy and protecting themselves from STDs?

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home

Vagina Festival: Only in NYC

Vagina Festival is a visual and performance art experience, organized by artist-activist, Alexandra Jacoby. It is an outgrowth of her project, vagina vérité®—an unabashed exploration of the plain, ordinary, mysterious matter of vaginas.

VAGINA FESTIVAL is an opportunity to have conversations we don’t typically get to have – in ways we don’t typically get to have them. Through visual art, performance, speaker presentations and interactive activities, Vagina Festival forms a welcoming space for exploring sexuality, body image, personal identity, health and well-being.

At Vagina Festival, we exchange ideas, challenge cultural norms and celebrate women. Their aim is to engage people by creating a fun, moving, thought-provoking experience.

Vagina Festival is made possible by generous sponsors and volunteers who are passionate about creating conversation. If you’d like to be a part of organizing and promoting Vagina Festival, go now to sign up.

October 24-26, 2008
Sage Theater
711 Seventh Avenue, 2nd FL
New York, NY 10036

Vagina Festival is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non profit arts service organization. Contributions on behalf of Vagina Festival may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Donations can be made by credit card, or by check.

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home

Discover: Science, Technology and the Future

I’m continually finding new resources for articles and issues relating to psychology, biology and science. It seems there’s always more to Discover:

• Fearless Mothers
• Do Brothers Make you Gay?
• The Biology Behind Sex in the City
• Why Loneliness is Bad for You
• Mind Over Moods
• Map: High School Hook Ups
• Autism: It’s Not Just in the Head
• Vital Signs: Misdiagnosing ADHD
• Babies Who Beat AIDS

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home

Sex Ed – Grown Up Edition

I’m working on writing a curriculum entitled, Let’s Talk About Sex: Straight Talk Between Parent and Child. I’ll be teaching this one-hour workshop to parents in the community in September. Incorporated in the workshop is a growing list of topics to help young parents educate their children so that they can – hopefully – make smarter, healthier decisions when it comes to their bodies and their sexuality.

STDs are top on the priority list as far as things I plan to cover. Some parents might want to know why my first concern is not “birth control,” or discussing reasons to abstain.

Times have changed since my parents were teens. Times have changed – dramatically – since I was a teen. Sexually active people (no matter what their age) have always put themselves “at risk” for unplanned pregnancies, hence the name “birth control.”

What amazes me is how little is known or discussed about STDs and the prevention of them. Sexually active individuals are more likely to have an STD, pass along an STD unknowingly or contract an STD than they are to conceive a child! This is the reality that young people, in particular, are having to deal with – unfortunately, from first-hand experience.

One in four American women between the ages of 14 and 19
has a sexually transmitted disease.

There have been many reports and discussions in the news about young people engaging in oral sex more often than the “sex” sex that most of us knew as teenagers. Yes, oral sex “existed” then, but there are many young people today who consider themselves virgins (and admit this proudly) even though they’ve participated in oral sex.

Times certainly have changed. With statistics being what they are, this type of ignorance is more dangerous to a person’s health than they realize.

Let’s start to educate ourselves and our children before it’s too late.

Thank you to LOVE IN THE TIME OF HERPES for the inspiration behind this post. And a big thank you hug goes out to the blogger for her dedication to educating readers and allowing those of us who have an STD to “come out of the closet.”

Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home