What is it about teenagers that drives their parents so crazy?
I had a mother of two young teenage boys in my office this morning, bewailing the very typical actions of her sons. By all accounts her sons are good kids - they (generally) listen to her and (eventually) do ask she asks them to. They [...]
Archives for parenting
Those crazy teenagers! What do they think they’re doing?
Talking to Kids About Their Online Networking
I am very excited to announce that Kiwi Commons, where I am a resident expert resource, has revamped their website and blog. Kiwi Commons is an organization dedicated to providing “the best Internet safety resources for parents, educators and youth workers across North America. To encourage proactive strategies for youth and online safety [...]
How to respond when your kid/teen views varsity level porn
Last week I asked that parents send me questions that they had about adolescent sexuality or their children (or themselves) specifically. Below is my favorite question so far. If you have a question that you haven’t sent in yet, don’t hesitate to e-mail me or leave it in the comments section below.
HERE’S A QUESTION THAT [...]
The time for insight
A parent of a newly minted high school student recounted a story to me today where his daughter cussed at him for the first time. It was a relatively mild cussing event, but it upset him. He pulled her aside, talked about the issues he has with cussing, and encouraged her not to do it [...]
Teenagers and vibrators
This summer seems to be the summer of teenagers contacting me about how to get a vibrator. I have gotten at least a few comments or e-mails every week, and sometimes every day, from young women who want help getting a vibrator. (I have also gotten the occasional e-mail from a young man interested in [...]
Why we don’t talk about it
The thing about sex is that it can be powerful, overwhelming, and leave us at our most fragile and vulnerable. This inevitably carries over to our conversations about it. We’re able to joke about sex, because that does not reveal how truly defenseless we can be in our sexuality. But to talk honestly about sex, [...]
The problem with photoshop
I’ve been talking a lot about media recently, so I’m just going to go with that and keep it up. There is just so much to say on the topic that once I get going it’s hard to stop. Last week I presented my new group of college students with their Sexuality in the Media [...]
Negotiating the road to adulthood
I have a friend with a teenage son. Actually, I have quite a few friends with teenage sons, but I’m thinking of one in particular this morning. She called me the other day because her 15 year old, after a day with a particularly high number of pestering questions and little annoyances, had [...]
Sexuality in the Media Wednesday!
Last fall one of my students was looking at toys and how gender and sexuality are represented in toys. I think she was expecting to dislike what she found, but she ended up being truly horrified. To counteract the very narrow messages that gender-specific toys send, she created this public service announcement to remind us [...]
Dynamite by Taio Cruz
This song took much of my classroom attention last week. In each of my three college classes we watched the music video. Dynamite is a relatively well-known, currently popular song. Most of my college students had heard it, many of them had danced to it in the clubs. But only one or two had seen [...]
