May is "Sex Ed for All" Month

Sex Ed For All is a collective commitment to work toward a world where all young people — no matter where they live, or how they identify — receive the high-quality, evidence-based sex education they deserve.

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POV: Parents and Teens Discuss What It's Like to Talk About Sex

Hear honest firsthand experiences both teens and parents have had when talking about sex while learning tips on how to approach the conversation with your own teen.

Give It A Try

It can be hard to know where to begin when talking to your teen about sex and relationships. Here’s a great example of how you can approach the topic and have open, honest, effective conversations with your teen!

Quick Tips for Talking To Your Teen About Sex

The What and When of Talking to Your Child

0-2 Years
Toddlers should be able to name all the body parts including the genitals.  Most two-year-olds know the difference between male and female, and can usually figure out if a person is male or female.
2-5 years
Children should understand the very basics of reproduction: a man and a woman make a baby together, and the baby grows in the woman’s uterus.

Children should understand their body is their own. Teach them about privacy around body issues. They should know other people can touch them in some ways but not other ways.

Source

5-8 years
Children should have a basic understanding that some people are heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. They should also know what the role of sexuality is in relationships.

Children should know about the basic social conventions of privacy, nudity, and respect for others in relationships.

Children should be taught the basics about puberty towards the end of this age span, as a number of children will experience some pubertal development before age 10.

Children’s understanding of human reproduction​ should continue. This may include the role of sexual intercourse.

Source

9-12 years
In addition to reinforcing all the things above they have already learned, tweens should be taught about safer sex and contraception.

Tweens should understand what makes a positive relationship and what makes for a bad one.

Tweens should also learn to judge whether depictions of sex and sexuality in the media are true or false, realistic or not, and whether they are positive or negative.

Source

13-18 years
Teens are generally very private people. However, if parents have spoken to their child early about sex increases the chance that teens will approach parents when difficult or dangerous things come up.

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Learning by Age Group

Planned Parenthood’s “For Parents” page features resources split by age group from ages 0-19 so you can help them stay safe and healthy as they grow up.

Resource Hubs for Talking With Your Teens About Sex

Answer

Answer is committed to providing honest, accurate answers about sex in response to the many questions teens and adult professionals have about this complex topic.

Talk With Your Kids

TWYK champions and promotes quality sexual and reproductive health care for all and believe that it’s always the right time to communicate openly and honestly with your kids.

Teaching Sexual Health

TSH provides accessible, comprehensive and innovative information for parents looking to educate their children about their sexuality.

Interactive Lessons From Berks Teens

A Lesson on Consent for Parents and Teens

Teens and parents learn together, discuss what consent is, and practice asking for consent.

Download Lesson In English

Healthy Relationships Lesson

The US-based National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health conducted a
study of thousands of school children in Grades 7 to 12. They found that 80%
of those 14 and over were or had been in a romantic relationship. When family
members and caregivers can normalize teen relationships, youth are more
likely to frame their perspectives in the context of their own relationships.
Here is an at-home lesson to help you initiate dialogue with your young people
about relationships.

Download Lesson:

In English

En Español

Positive Self Talk Lesson

Parents and Teens can do this activity together! Building positive self talk is a valuable skill that can help your teen in all areas of life. Self-talk expresses itself in how we respect ourselves, how we treat others, and how we allow others to treat us. As your teen approaches relationships, sex, health, and more, positive self-talk can serve as a powerful tool to support them.

Download Lesson:

In English

En Español

Resources by Topic

Puberty 101 for Parents

Puberty can be a challenging time for children and their parents. Many of us wish we had a “Puberty 101” course to help us through this time. Families who know what to expect and who talk about puberty together will find this time easier.

Parenting LGBTQ Kids

One out of four families has someone in it who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans. Even more may have kids who question their sexuality at various points.  More and more families are looking for ways to help their LGBT and questioning children feel loved and secure.

Sex, the internet, and texting

It’s common to feel overwhelmed by the rapidly changing communications technologies that our kids are so comfortable with. Cell phones have been around for decades, but we’ve now reached the point where it’s more common for a 15-year-old to have a cell phone than not.

Helping your teen delay sex

As parents, we can play an important role in helping our teens delay having sex until they are ready. We can understand the social reasons teens choose to have sex or choose to wait. We can help our kids by setting expectations about sexual activity, talking with them, and helping them build self-esteem.

Get Involved: Organizations, Advocacy, and Campaigns

National Campaign To Prevent Teen & Unplanned Pregnancy (NC)

Teen pregnancy and childbearing among Latina teens are now at record lows. Even so, Latino teen pregnancy and birth rates are more than one and a half times higher than the national average. This section contains tips and resources for Latino teens, parents, and community advocates.

Office of Adolescent Health

The Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of adolescents to enable them to become healthy, productive adults.  OAH is the convener and catalyst for the development of a national adolescent health agenda.

Advocates for Youth

Advocates for Youth partners with youth leaders, adult allies, and youth-serving organizations to advocate for policies and champion programs that recognize young people’s rights to honest sexual health information; accessible, confidential, and affordable sexual health services; and the resources and opportunities necessary to create sexual health equity for all youth.
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