For Teenagers Only - Talking to Your Parents About Sex

In a perfect world, kids would be able to talk to their parents about anything and everything. And parents would feel comfortable communicating with their teenagers. In reality the lines of communication are often rather bumpy. While parents often complain that they “just can’t talk to their kids,” it is often the teens who’d really like to talk with their parents about important topics and key issues. When your parents don’t reach out to you, there are things you can do to bridge the communication gap and talk to your parents about sex… 

The main reasons parents and teens have difficulty talking about sex are embarrassment and fear. Your parents may have come from a family and background where talking about personal matters just wasn’t done. Perhaps their own parents were on the silent side and your parents had to turn to peers, books, etc, to get their important questions answered. Some parents feel comfortable talking about sex as it relates to other people or in the third person, but become very stressed talking about it on a more personal level. While it may be hard, try to keep in mind where your parent might be coming from in terms of his or her experience and personality and realize that they may need a little prompting from you. 

Talking about things in the third person (I have a friend who…) or by talking about an article you read or something you “heard” can be a good way to initiate a conversation about sex with your parents. Few of us feel comfortable just coming right out and blurting things in an abrupt way - easing into it is a perfectly fine way to approach a conversation with your parents about sex. It depends also on what you would like to talk about and what you need to accomplish. If you are trying to acquire information or get some questions answered, going at things in a more abstract way may be all you need. If you have a personal need or question - perhaps needing to talk to your parents about birth control or sexuality issues, this technique can be a good warm-up.