Yesterday I wrote about sexting, in the original, text-based sense. Today I get into those terribly troubled waters when teenagers send sexual images - either stills or video - of themselves.
I’m hesitant to write about this topic, which is perhaps telling in and of itself. I write about a lot of controversial issues [...]
Archives for parenting
Sexting, take two
Musings on vacations and flings…
Welcome to summer, time of vacations and summer flings! I was on vacation in Florida with friends (hence, no post for a stupidly long time). I ended up talking with the three other adults who I went with about our experiences as teenagers on vacation. Our experiences ran the gamut - from flings on every [...]
More on hugs and teen culture
A couple of weeks ago I interviewed John Styn about his project Hug Nation. One of the points we talked about was how critical physical contact is to us humans – in particular how important hugging is. Then yesterday, the New York Times published an article on teenage hug culture: For Teenagers, Hello Means “How [...]
Who should do the sex education?
The parents.
I want to make it very, very clear that I strongly believe that the parents are the first and primary sex educators for their children, and in an ideal world would continue to be the primary sexuality educators through adolescence. Most of what I do is help parents learn how to be open and [...]
How to do it: in the words of a young adult
I have recently been drawn into a conversation about teenagers, sexuality, and online activities on a massive e-mail group. The conversation was started by a father posting a link to this Daily Mail article about the excessive promiscuity and online sexual activity teenagers are regularly engaging in. I was unimpressed by the article - and [...]
More on condoms…
My dad recently sent me this fabulous condom commercial…don’t I have a great dad? You should send it to your kid too!
“I had an abortion.”
One of the recent belly pictures I put up was of a woman had an abortion. Her picture included a bit of personal jewelry that she asked me to take out for privacy reasons - she was concerned her young teenage son might see the picture and wasn’t sure she was ready for him to [...]
What to do with that pesky YouTube?
Dr. Kris Gowen was lovely enough to take some time to talk with me last week about teenagers and the Internet - particularly YouTube.
Kris modestly describes herself: I have been a sexuality educator for 14 years and I have spoken nationally on teens, the Internet, and sexuality at conferences and at public, community-based venues.
What she [...]
Short advice for parents: How to make decisions
My friend and colleague Laura Olson came and spoke to my Child Development class on Monday. Within her two hour (very informative and fun) lecture, was this gem:
Birth to seven years old: Parents make the decisions.
Seven to fourteen years old: Parents listen to the child, then make the decision.
Fourteen years old through high school: Parents [...]
On gender, sexual orientation, and children
I am thinking this morning about a blog post by Hugo Schwyzer and The Atlantic article I read yesterday.
Hugo’s post is his response to a question about a bisexual man who is in a monogamous marriage with a woman, and what that means. The Atlantic article is about transgendered children, the range of reactions and [...]
