I am a mother of 6 and now a grandmother of 8. I look back to the days of my youth and conversations that surrounded sex. It was taboo. It wasn't something talked about. If someone is engaging in it they are "dirty", "sinning", " bad". If we had questions, who did we go to? Either our friends or nobody. This did not quell curiosity, or prepare us for marriage.
My goal was to remove the stigma and give my children a better and safer understanding of sex than I'd had. I tried to create a climate of openness with my children, but even with that, I didn't have the right tools to truly do it the way it needed to be done.
Gratefully, over the years because of research and openness from those that have been on the path of addiction recovery, so much more is understood! So many more resources are available.
Utah Coalition Against Pornography (UCAP) is one of those resources.
At one of their Rallies, the following presentation was given:
What does a healthy Parent-Child conversation about sex look like?
It is long and is worth taking the time to watch.
If there are things that you find in it that stand out to you, please put them in the comments to share for those reading this. As we share we can lift each other!
I'll start:
- Teach each child to appreciate and love all aspects of their bodies as a beautiful gift from God.
- Teach them to have awe and wonder about the body's ability to reproduce and become bonded to a partner.
- Teach them to recognize the pleasurable and arousing feelings that come with sexuality and learn to control them through awareness and mastery.
- Avoid attaching fear and anxiety to sexuality.
