Guiding our offspring through the minefield that is childhood.
Sense and adolescent sexuality.
Peer pressure takes a back seat when it comes to your teens ‘first time’.
Research over the last fifteen years has indicated that contrary to popular belief, our children do not mimic other children when it comes to sexualised attitudes and behaviours. Rather, over two-thirds of teens participating in research during this period stated that their parents are the main influence on their beliefs and activities concerning sexual morals, early sexual engagement and safe sex. If this is really the case, shouldn’t it be the case that underage sex simply doesn’t happen? In a perfect world, this would be the case, but with some common obstacles preventing helpful sexually orientated parent-child conversation this is a very relevant issue.
My child recently attended a school residential in France. He’s thirteen and knowing that he was in a different country was unnerving, but great for him. He came home thrilled to announce that he has a girlfriend and they hold hands. Two days later he regaled a tale of an acquaintance from the trip who climbed out of the window and over the roof of a youth hotel to meet her boyfriend in his dorm room to ‘do the deed.’ My heart sank somewhat, the children…