One of the most feared and avoided questions young children ask their parent is, “Where do babies come from?” This question usually arises around the age of eight or nine. Most parents will avoid the question or answer it with the “You’ll understand it when you get older” bit. Kids are a lot smarter than we parents give them credit for and avoiding the question will only cause them to seek the answer elsewhere. At that young age you don’t need to go into details about the biology involved with making a baby; you just simply need to answer the question in an honest manner that they can understand.

By the time your child is a teenager he or she already knows the biology involved in making a baby. They know what sex is and are almost certainly eager to explore it firsthand. This is when you need to have a serious discussion with your teenager; not about the biology of sex, but the misconceptions surrounding sex. I dealt with this topic in a game-like setting. My children are all close in age, so at the dinner table one night I started the “game”. I have three children, so I had three empty jars on the table and a stack of 30, one dollar bills in front of me. I had a list of questions to ask them and for each question they answered, either if it was right or wrong, they got a dollar bill in their jar. Some of the questions I asked were:

• How does a girl get pregnant?
• What are some methods of birth control?
• What are sexually transmitted diseases?
• Is having sex wrong?
• What age should somebody have sex for the first time?
• Are you ready to be a parent at the age you are now?

These were just a few of the questions I asked and surprisingly, the game went on for well over an hour. With each question, we discussed the answers and then I explained the truth of each topic in detail. They were not embarrassed and found the game to be very enjoyable. You have to understand however, I had always been very open with my children and allowed them the opportunity to speak their minds from a very young age. They were not timid about asking me questions or answering my questions. They learned a lot from this game and they each ended up with ten dollars in their jar.

Talking about sex with your teenagers doesn’t have to be painful; you just need to be creative, comfortable, and open with your kids. They already know the basics; they just don’t always know the whole truth of the matter and it is your job to enlighten them with the truth. The most important aspect of this “game” was to not talk down to my kids; I spoke to them as an equal player in the game. And be prepared for some shocking answers; answers you might not want to hear and most importantly, don’t scold them for being honest.

Read some more article about your relationship in my Blog.

Relationship Blog