One of my middle school classes just ended about an hour ago. On these last class days, among other things, everyone gets a blank book and we all write notes to each other, the students, myself, and my co-teacher. Then we all hug, say good-bye, and go our separate ways. After spending fourteen weeks together […]
Archives for trust
What does prevention mean?
A friend of mine with a 7th grade daughter and I were just talking on the phone, and as we were saying goodbye, she mentioned that her friends with 7th grade children have disparate views on what prevention means. She didn’t have time to into what she meant, but wanted to save the conversation for […]
Internet Issues and Privacy
On Monday I introduced a report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education called Young People, Ethics, and the New Digital Media (go to Monday’s post to download the report in its entirety). The authors contend that there are five primary issues to address and investigate at the intersection of these three forces: identity (which […]
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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
Staying interested
The other day the illustrious Paul Sunstone left the following comment on this post: One of the challenges that I’ve found when talking with teens is boredom on my part. At first, that might sound counter-intuitive, Karen. After all, our sexuality is so important to us that it might be hard to imagine someone could […]
On Trust (and what it means about innocence and knowledge)
This morning I was thinking about trust. About who has it, and who doesn’t. And what that means about innocence and knowledge. Because I occasionally find myself in front of a group of young teenagers talking about this most intimate topic, promising I won’t tell their parents what they say, teenagers often confide in me […]
The good and the bad – they go together!
World, meet my new computer. New computer, meet the world. Two things that should never, ever be allowed to mix? Rust and the inside of my computer. Today I’ve been thinking about the good parts of sex (physical pleasure, a deepening relationship with someone, babies, fun, and more). I’ve also been thinking about the bad […]
Honesty about sex…er…
One of the questions I asked my Human Sexuality students last week was whether any of them had ever stretched the truth – or perhaps even flat-out-lied – about their sexuality. Everyone giggled nervously and looked shifty eyed. One brave young soul rolled his eyes and raised his hand saying, “Yeh, hasn’t everyone?” More nervous […]
