Posts Tagged ‘kids and sex’

Smart kids and sex

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 by Bat Sheva Marcus LMSW MPH PhD

We have every excuse in the book why we don’t talk to our children about sex. A favorite one is: “they are  not ready.”   I think we really like to believe that our children are innocent and can’t handle information on sex. That is just not true and study after study suggests that the more we talk to our kids about sex the more correct information they have, the more responsible they are and the later they become sexually active.

But in case you still have any doubts,  here’s a fun statistic quoted in my favorite parenting/sex book , Everything you Never Wanted Your Kids To Know about Sex but Were Afraid They’d Ask (see our blog posting that delves into this book a little more: 

http://www.centerforfemalesexuality.com/blog/2008/03/07/talking-to-kids-about-sex/

The average age in America when a child can articulate correctly how children are conceived and born is 11. The average age in Britain is 9. And the average age in the Netherlands is 7!! So unless you think that the kids in the Netherlands are somehow inherently smarter, you’ll have to admit it’s cultural!

Start talking. Trust me, your kids can handle it.

Teaching Kids about Sex

Friday, March 5th, 2010 by Bat Sheva Marcus LMSW MPH PhD

There is so much controversy about how to teach kids about sex. In general I’m a proponent of “the more you know, the more prepared you are and the better choices you can make.” Recently a new curriculum came out that was touted as “abstinence only.” That tends to be a major red flag for those of us in the field. But then a respected colleage, a v.p for education at Planned Parenthood, Catherine Dukes PhD had this to say:

Here at Planned Parenthood of Delaware we always support comprehensive age-appropriate sex-positive evidence-based approaches. In fact, the evidence based curriculum Making Proud Choices! is what we use most often with our teenage youth. The authors of that curriculum are: Loretta Sweet Jemmott, John Jemmott, and Konnie McCaffree (President-Elect of SSSS). http://www.selectmedia.org/customer-service/evidence-based-curricula/making-proud-choices/

I saw Loretta Sweet Jemmot speak at a Delaware conference last year and again, I can assure you she is an advocate of comprehensive sex ed and science-based approaches. We even offer training to teachers and youth-service providers on this curriculum: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/delaware/ed-workshops-29159.htm

There is so much controversy about how to teach kids about sex. In general I’m a proponent of “the more you know, the more prepared you are and the better choices you can make.” Recently a new curriculum came out that was touted as “abstinence only.” That tends to be a major red flag for those of us in the field.

But then a respected colleage, a v.p for education at Planned Parenthood, Catherine Dukes PhD had this to say:
Here at Planned Parenthood of Delaware we always support comprehensive age-appropriate sex-positive evidence-based approaches. In fact, the evidence based curriculum Making Proud Choices! is what we use most often with our teenage youth. The authors of that curriculum are: Loretta Sweet Jemmott, John Jemmott, and Konnie McCaffree (President-Elect of SSSS) http://www.selectmedia.org/customer-service/evidence-based-curricula/making-proud-choices/

I saw Loretta Sweet Jemmot speak at a Delaware conference last year and again, I can assure you she is an advocate of comprehensive sex ed and science-based approaches. We even offer training to teachers and youth-service providers on this curriculum:http://www.plannedparenthood.org/delaware/ed-workshops-29159.htm When I saw the ab-only study results I was surprised but then comforted that the author of the study / main researcher was Dr. John Jemmot. He is a known credible researcher and comprehensive sex ed curricula autho and a supporter of science-based approaches.

So you may want to check out more!
http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/article/abstinence_only