Dear parents and care givers,
When I taught 10th grade biology, we’d spend a month of class time on the human reproductive system, but I fear that my students still didn’t master the content and skills they’d need to have healthy sexual relationships. The 10th graders were certainly experimenting sexually and had all kinds of questions, which somehow hadn’t been answered along the way in health class, from their friends, from the internet, or from their families. This bothers me so much that I’m a little obsessed. I want to know how to get the information and the skills to our young people. I think the answer lies in supporting parents to have more open communication with their kids.
I know that talking about sex and relationships is the challenge of a lifetime.
It can be so SO difficult! We haven’t had great role models and we’re working on our own skills. We all feel unqualified to teach this topic well, but who else is going to do it for us? Our kids need us to be brave and awkward and to be courageous enough to try.
Lots of parents, probably your parents, did as their parents did and gave their kids little or no guidance. That’s how we got to where we are today. Today’s statistics really bother me: Teens have the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections. The USA has the highest rate of teen pregnancy of all developed nations. One if five college women has been sexually assaulted. I’d like to turn those statistics around, but I need your help.
Recent surveys say 70% of teens say that what would help them most in making good decisions around sex and relationships is better communication with their parents.
Since parents are the key, I am working to support parents to have more a comfortable, engaged, and ongoing dialog with their kids about sex and intimacy. I aim to support parents with being their child’s greatest ally and resource in establishing healthy boundaries, clear communication and safety in their intimate relationships. I’d like to help parents empower their teens to act from a place of real awareness, choice, and responsibility.
If this is your goal for a kid in your life, please know you’re not alone. I would be absolutely delighted to get down in the trenches with you, and celebrate the small achievements even as we make our way through the awkward murkiness. You don’t have to do this alone.
Let me and a community of parents with similar obstacles and goals support you.
At the very least, please contact me for 30 minutes of free support, a Mastering the Difficult Conversation consultation, about whatever question is most troublesome right now. We all need help with this. Let’s be there for each other.
Warmly,
Anya