I found this article in the The Washington Post’s On Faith column about parents talking to their kids about sex. I think it has some useful tips.
Talk frequently with your kids. The “sex talk” is not a one-off conversation. Regular dialogue about sexuality should begin when children are young and last until they’re married for the sake of loving, biblical guidance. The fact is parents are not always able to shelter their kids from every single outside influence. Whether information is coming from neighborhood kids or through inappropriate media content (even when its viewed accidentally), healthy, regular rhythms of communication are vital.
As an example from the statistics, a staggering 90 percent of children between the ages of 8 to 16 have viewed pornography on the Internet, in most cases unintentionally. The average age of first Internet exposure to pornography is 11 years old and the largest consumers of Internet pornography are 12- to 17-year-old boys. Youth with significant exposure to sexual media were shown to be significantly more likely to have had intercourse at ages 14 to 16 . That means that the average age for first intercourse in the United States is now 16.4.
A parent must remain aware of the questions and curiosities of their child(ren) and speak frankly–but not crassly–with biblical wisdom like the parents in Proverbs. Take care to never shame or embarrass your child, but treat them respectfully as an emerging, fellow adult. Read the rest here.
If you’d like further wisdom on the topic, here is a link to a little booklet that I came across while looking for gospel-based resources on the topic of talking to teens about sex from Paul David Tripp, Teens & Sex: How Should We Teach Them? This is a great resource!
I hope this information is helpful.
How have you approached the “talk/s” – what resources did you find helpful?
The Purity Code is a great book to use when having this discussion with your kids. I read it first and hi-lighted some things I wanted to focus on, and then let my sons read it (haven’t given it to daughter yet). After they read it, we talked about it and answered any questions they had.
It is VERY important to talk about this regularly… making it a comfortable topic for you and the kids. The more comfortable they feel, the more they’ll come to you, as the parent, vs their friends.