The Sex Talks: 10 Tips to Help Parents Talk to Kids about Sex

I know. This is not easy. The very idea of having to talk to your child about sex is making you squeamish, squirmish and squirrelly. But we can do this. And I have to tell you– it’s not as bad as you think.

Here are some key tips for parents who know that it is time to talk to kids about sex:

(1)   Talk early and often: It’s never “THE talk” or “one talk” but a series of big and little ones that you have over time starting when they are very little. The first talks are about their body parts, caring for their body parts and loving each body part! And yes, you’ll build on these foundational talks- don’t avoid it and don’t make it weird! There’s nothing to be embarrassed about!

(2)   Use the actual words: Just like we call an “arm” and “arm” and not a “Little llama,” refer to a penis as a penis and a vagina as a vagina. There is nothing wrong with these words and we don’t want to send the message that there is! Plus, it will make it much easier to discuss the mechanics of sex later- you don’t want to be talking about intercourse like “the peepee goes into the women’s lady bits” because that will cause confusion and it frankly doesn’t sound right at all. (We talk about this in more depth in the interview with Dina Alexander and with Bonnie J. Rough)

(3)   Be the trusted source: Seriously, who do you want talking to your child about sex- you, or that kid, Barnabee, in the back of the bus who overheard something in some movie? Kids are hearing about sex in elementary school. By age 11, most kids have been exposed to porn. Make sure you talk early and often so you get to educate your kid with your values and the right information or you might have to unravel the wrong information! And DON’T tell your child s/he’s too young to know- they’ll just find out from somebody else (or the internet- you definitely don’t want that).

(4)   Be ready! This conversation doesn’t happen when you schedule it (what conversation does?). So you might be putting your daughter to bed and a question about nipples becomes a full-fledged segway into intercourse. A report on something your child heard on the school bus about how babies really came to be might come up over “pass the potatoes.” And family movies, seeing a pregnant woman, witnessing breast-feeding, a school video on puberty- are all springboards for discussion around “how babies are made.” If they’re asking; be ready to tell. Ask them what they already know (to dispel myths or build upon knowledge). Be ready to put on your big boy and big boy pants, take a deep breath and say things like; “the man’s penis goes into the vagina,” “erection,” “lubrication,” “ejaculation,” “testicles,” “clitoris,” if the child is asking about exactly how baby-making works.

(5)   Don’t shame body exploration: Totally normal, folks! The body is amazing! Our kids need to know their bodies. Get your daughter a mirror so she can look at her amazing vagina! According to sex therapist, Dae Sheridan, interviewed on How to Talk to Kids about Anything, most girls don’t even know they have 3 holes down there. Let your boys and girls touch themselves- and simply give guidance that body exploration is private and not something you do in public. As your children get older, you don’t want them to have any shame around masturbation, contrary to how you might have grown up, it is not a shameful thing to do—and is a totally normal part of sexuality.

(6)   Be age-appropriate and follow the child’s lead: A young child may only want to know about the sperm and the egg while an older child may want to know more about how to egg and the sperm get together. Oversharing when a child isn’t ready doesn’t feel good for anyone so don’t answer more than what they are asking. Undersharing doesn’t feel good either so make sure you are answering the question and not changing the subject to “what’s for dinner?” Leave the door open to answer any others whenever s/he is ready. They’ll let you know. (And you WANT your child to ask YOU questions—about this and about ANYTHING).

(7)   Discuss consent: This, again, can start early. We each get to say whether we want to be touched and how we want to be touched. We get to say if we want to be hugged or kissed and if we’d rather have some alone time. And we need to listen to the wishes and boundaries of others as well. (See my interview with Richard Weissbourd and Peggy Orenstein).

(8)   Tell them that sex is more than just mechanics and for procreation: Because it is. Sex is a way to connect. It’s an adult way to show love, passion, playfulness, generosity, warmth and affection. You can explain to your children that; “When you find the right person who truly loves and respects you for who you are and who you truly care about and love for who they are, sex can be beautiful and amazing.” (The opposite is true too- the wrong person who could care less about you- sex is no bueno.)

(9)   Nervous? Practice! Say it to yourself in front of a mirror, say it to your spouse, the wall or a willing friend or bookclubber! When you practice talking about sex, it’s much easier to actually talk about it when you need to have the conversations.

(10) There are larger conversations to have: Your children may ask about other ways babies come into our lives- and you can get into discussions about IVF, adoption, surrogacy and more. And, especially if your child identifies with being in the LGBTQ community- you don’t get a pass if you are straight and your child is gay, by the way- you must talk about sex with same-sex partners. If you don’t know the answers, ask someone who does. If you don’t have this conversation with your child who identifies with being in the LGBTQ community, they will get their information elsewhere (likely not a trusted source) and they will likely feel alone and confused.

Need resources? Listen to these podcast episodes we’ve done on the topic of talking to kids about sex:

How to Talk to Kids about Sex with Dina Alexander

How to talk to Kids about Sex, Love & Equality with Bonnie J. Rough

How to Talk to Kids about Healthy, Caring, Romantic Relationships with Richard Weissbourd

How to Talk to Boys about Sex with Peggy Orenstein

How to Talk to Kids about Porn with Gail Dines

How to Talk to Kids about Sexual Assault with Dae Sheridan

To come: How to Talk to Boys about Puberty, Sex, Body Image & Growing Up with Cara Natterson

 

Thinking of you, my friend! You can do it!

Warm regards,

Dr. Robyn

Sports Team Wins 91-0: Is it Bullying?

When a high school football team won a game 91-0, a parent from the losing team filed a complaint against the coach, claiming it was bullying. Was it? I sat down with the amazing folks at Good Morning America to discuss.

What is bullying? Most of us know that bullying is a conflict that consists of at least two or three participants:

  • The Bully: the person initiating the aggression
  • The Bullied (the Victim): the person on the receiving end of the aggression
  • The Bystander (the Onlooker): the person (usually people) standing by and watching the aggression

Bullying used to be thought of as the physical acts of the biggest school yard boy who pummeled the weak kid on the playground, stuffed him into a locker, forced others to do his school work or stole their lunch money.

Now, bullying is defined as: Harassment, intimidation, or bullying is defined as any gesture, act (written, verbal, or physical), or electronic communication (i.e. through phone, computer, pager), that is perceived to be motivated by any actual or perceived characteristic (i.e. race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, distinguishing characteristic), that disrupts or interferes with school (on or off school property) or compromises the rights of other students.

But would we know bullying when we see it? How do we know the difference between bullying and what is considered normal social conflict? Let’s put it plainly.

Here’s how I explain bullying on Good Morning America:

A: AGGRESSIVE: Is it aggressive? Bullying feels like an attack.

B: BALANCE of power: Is the balance of power unequal? Bullying involves uneven power such that age, popularity. size, ability, clout and special needs can play a role.

C: CONSISTENT: Is this happening often or only once? Bullying involves a pattern of consistent incidents.

D: DELIBERATE: Is there an intention to harm, hurt or provoke? Bullying is intentional not accidental.

While social conflict and intense (uneven) sports competition can feel brutal, this, in my opinion is not bullying. The other team was attacking the ball, the plays and the win– but not the other team. There was an imbalance of skill and power, to be sure– but this was one game and nobody was deliberately trying to hurt or harm the other team’s feelings or moral. Nobody says this is easy– but we can’t call it bullying. Doing so plays down what bullying really is– and the kids who truly need the help.

Your thoughts?

Talking to kids about Traumatic Events – important tool

Sweet friends; What should you say or do to help your children when traumatic events happen? In the wake of the ChristChurch shootings in New Zealand– I wanted to provide some helpful resources to anybody/everybody who may speak with children about what they’re hearing/seeing in the news and online.

1.) Here’s a link to download my infographic on How to Talk to Kids About Scary Things Presented in the News 

and

2.) My hope is this interview with Hey Sigmund – Karen Young on how to the #talktokids podcast helps our global neighbors. My heart goes out to all those who have been affected by this act of terror. http://DrRobynSilverman.com/KYoung_PC2

Wishing you love and peace.

xo,

Dr. Robyn

 

Thank you! We Just Broke 100,000 downloads and I’m So Grateful!

Hello Sweet friends!

Wow. I am beyond humbled and excited to share with you the exciting news! With the last two podcast episodes, we plowed through 100,000 downloads of my parenting podcast, How to Talk to Kids about Anything! ?

When I first started the podcast about 16 months ago, I had interviewed some of my trusted friends and colleagues to get things underway. They believed in my desire to not only provide parents and educators with tips and strategies to help all kids thrive but also to provide them with the scripts of EXACTLY what to say when challenging, uncomfortable or sensitive topics were broached.

After 68 podcast episodes so far, we’ve covered subject matter from how to talk about death, divorce, ADHD, tantrums, technology and anxiety to how to talk about sex, porn, failure, bullying, neurodiversity, (this week’s on challenging behavior with best-selling author, Dr. Ross Greene!) and so much more. I have taken copious notes, had my mind blown, and even squirmed in my seat along side of you as we learned from the best– top experts and best-selling authors who knew their stuff cold. It’s been one master class after the other and I feel privileged to be learning, growing and expanding my mind along side of all of you. I feel truly honored to be the host of How to Talk to Kids about Anything.

And as I write my book, based on all these amazing lessons I am gathering from this podcast, I hope you’ll continue to share with me what tips and scripts you are using in your families that you’ve learned here. We are all part of the same tribe. And I hope you’ll remember, even on the days we fall short, you are 10X the parent (and teacher!) you think you are. Parenting is the ultimate do-over and you are exactly where you are supposed to be.

So, sweet friends, here’s to the next 100,000! May it continue to make us better, stronger and more open parents and educators. I’m right there with you. I hope you’ll celebrate with me! ❤️?? And if you love this podcast like I do– would you kindly rate and review it– it means so much!

Let’s continue expanding our minds together– it’s a win for our entire parenting community and of course, to our kids.

Love to all.

xo,
Dr. Robyn

Top 10 Family Rules with Dr. Robyn Silverman

Family rules. Something every family needs but likely has not formally discussed or written down. Think about it– does your family have known, documented family rules?

Rules make the household “work.” They keep things safe and fair for everyone. With rules, kids know what is to be expected and can rise to the occasion. Of course, without known rules, it’s very hard to enforce them, use them for guidance or for each family member to know when they’ve crossed the line.

As I’m getting ready to release my very first Family Action Blueprint (forthcoming) package that centers on family rule development and discussion, I certainly have tons of ideas!

Below is an example of 10 rules to get you thinking of what you’d like to post on your fridge and discuss in your family meeting. However, I encourage you to ask your children to contribute to the family rules as I’ve continued to learn that when working with young people; if you say it, it can be ignored or challenged, if they say it, it becomes the gospel truth.

You can ask directly; Read more

Body Image and Girls: 8 Ways to Help Our Daughters Thrive in a Thin-is-in World

It was 1996, my Freshman year of college, when I came face-to-face with a truth that still follows me today- one unifying concern that almost all girls and women seem to share is that they want to change something about their bodies. I still remember when it happened, as it came as a surprise to me. One of my friends asked me if my thighs touched. This gifted young woman, with big brown eyes, a sharp brain and warm heart worried that how close her thighs were to the other cancelled out her talents, intelligence and overall value.

It stuck with me. I spoke to countless other women and teens along the way who felt similarly. Despite the strengths they had to offer, they felt that “looks” were more important than their other attributes.

In graduate school, I studies body image. In fact, I wrote a qualifying paper and my 167-page dissertation on the topic. As it turns out, even research tells us that despite all that women and girls have to offer this world, 96% of girls and women want to change something about their bodies.

I completed my book, Good Girls Don’t Get Fat: How Weight Obsession is Messing Up Our Girls & How We Can Help Them Thrive Despite It, based on my dissertation work, in 2009 with my newborn baby girl, Tallie, strapped to my chest. The book was published in 2010. It’s 2018– and the issue is just as prevalent today as it was then. But of course, my own mothering love and worry for my now 9-year-old daughter and her beautiful friends, sheds a much more personal light to this prevalent problem.

So, how can we help our girls thrive? Read more

Controversial Videos Create Negative Reputation for 9-Year-Old Child Lil Tay

I was interviewed for Nightline this week regarding a story about a young girl, LilTay, her controversial videos, the adults who are profiting off of her negative reputation and her very popular Instagram account.

What’s happening?

I think this is a story of a young child who is being used and fed a script to garner attention and gain money. She is the puppet and the adults in her life are pulling the strings. While others might say she is making her own choices, she is 9 years old—and while she is fully equipped to make some choices in her life- pursuing music over gymnastics or art—who she wants to be friends with- what she wants to wear, when the stakes are so high, the persona is so public and the footprint so big—we need some strong adult influence here—if it’s positive, then great things can happen but if it’s negative or not in the best interests of the child, it certainly can do more harm than good.

Is this detrimental?

I believe that a negative reputation can have a profound effect on a young, developing girl. Children are shaped by their connections and by their experiences. Her experiences are being shaped by the adults in her life and by what they are having her do and say. What happens down the line when she is 13, 15, 20 or 30—and she wants to go a different path? Her managers have created such a large footprint that it will be difficult for her to shake this contrived reputation if she would like to do so.

Her reputation proceeds her knowing who she is– the key adults in her life are helping to  create a reputation that Taylor will need to fit herself into for the rest of her life.

Is a 9-year-old equipped to make these decisions?

Children don’t yet have a fully developed pre-frontal cortex that allows us to make decisions based on different factors. In other words, children’s brains are not fully developed—that’s why we have parents, teachers and coaches to help guide the way.

Who is accountable?

An online reputation that embraces such a negative persona, even if it’s orchestrated (why I think it’s orchestrated), can have a negative effect on how others see you. At his point, people are asking her where her parents are—as they are accountable now– but eventually, they will be holding her accountable.

What is our responsibility as parents?

It’s our responsibility as parents to help guide our children to become the best versions of themselves—to become kind, contributing citizens who use their gifts to inspire and help others. My concern is that this negative persona actually takes away from her gifts—it says “look at me” instead of hear my music or my message. It is really up to us as parents, leaders and educators, to help our young people though connection, conversation and example, to highlight their gifts, develop their character and contribute something positive to this world.

Why are likes and comments so important to the kids who use social media?

We know that many young people look to social media to gain attention—likes and comments become validation for their existence and that can become addictive. It feels good to be seen and heard—even if it’s not for the right things.

What kind of effect can all those negative comments have on this young girl?

A young child does not have the capacity to simply turn a blind eye to nasty, lewd or threatening comments. They can reek havoc on her developing self esteem, self worth and sense of self. The internet is not a bubble. She, with the help of the adults in her life, is creating controversy and backlash. Her brand will continue to garner negative attention which will be hard to shake as she grows.

What do YOU think of this situation? Full Nightline video here. Do you find these videos problematic or entertaining? Knowing that most people will only see the videos in which she curses, uses offensive racist terminology, flashes money around and talks smack about everyone in her path– are the adults in her life setting her up for positive stardom or a negative reputation that is problematic and harmful?

Leadership: More than Just Showing the Way

Leaders don’t just show the way, know the way and go the way. They inspire others to feel competent, confident and courageous. They believe and also help others to believe in themselves. So leading is not just about standing out in front, it’s about being the person who sees the potential in others and helps them to see it in themselves.

#Leadership is not just about standing out in front, it’s about being the person who sees the potential in others and helps them to see it in themselves. Click To Tweet

See there’s a difference between watching someone achieve a goal and seeing that it’s possible for others and seeing someone achieve a goal and thinking “it’s possible for me too.”

There’s a difference between watching someone achieve a goal and thinking that it’s possible for others and seeing someone achieve a goal and thinking -it’s possible for me too. #Leadership Click To Tweet

Whether it’s a fitness goal, academic goal, parenting goal, athletic goal or business goal, we all need leaders who inspire us into action because we feel that we CAN achieve.

When I present a #keynote or write curriculum, it’s then, not about me. It’s about giving the skills and the scripts that make people say; “yes, I can do this.” I want my audience to leave feeling ready and able. I want them to say; “I’ve got what I need to do this now.” So yes, I can tell stories illustrating the “doing it” but if we don’t impart the skills and highlight the gifts that the other person has to feel competent and able, we are falling short on this #leadership front.

Whether you are a parent, teacher or coach, you know what I mean. We can inspire action not by simply doing it ourselves, certainly not doing it for them (that undermines everything) but by helping them see that they have what it takes to do it. And yes, of course, we may need to provide help in some form or another but isn’t the goal to get them to feel that they can ultimately take the lead in the task at hand?

Here’s to all you great leaders out there.

.

Xo-

Dr. Robyn

Confidence Comes from Experience

Someone asked me how to help her child become more confident– especially give that she felt she lacks confidence too.

You can’t will yourself to be confident. There’s no trick. There’s no magic button. In order to become confident you need to do the thing that scares you. You need to look in the face of uncertainty and still keep going.

You need to be louder than doubt. Bigger than the barrier. Bolder than the fear.

Remember when you ??? You know that time when…??? Conjure up those experiences when you kicked insecurity aside and did what you had to do. You can do this. You can do this.

Yes you can. Just do the thing. When you do the thing that scares you, you realize, it’s not so tough. It’s not so bad. It’s not so scary. And along the way, you become better at the thing, don’t you? And becoming better at it often makes us feel more comfortable. Or at least you can say, “well, I’ve already done it once so I can do it again.”

So speak up. Stand up. Try the activity. Get up on stage. Have the conversation. Put yourself out there. Make the call. Plant your feet. Look them in the eye. Walk to the front of the room. Go for that run. Teeter, totter, slip, fall, fail and wipe out. Then get back up. Try again. Go for it. Your confidence depends on it.

xoxo-

How to Be a Happier Parent When Happier Moms and Dads Mean Happier Kids

HAPPIER PARENTS= HAPPIER KIDS!

Do you want to be a happier parent? Most might say yes. Would it surprise you to know that for many years, research has shown that non-parents are happier than parents on an everyday basis? It’s true.

In today’s world where many parents are often shuttling kids from one destination to another, coping with high anxiety around school, sports, college, their children’s friends, their children’s interests, screen time, keeping their children safe and perhaps also trying to keep up with the Jones too- there seems to be a “happiness gap” between childless adults and those who have children. This is NOT what we had imagined when we pictured family life, is it?

So the question is- is it possible to change our families and our family lives so that they are full of the joy that we always hoped for?

Turns out- yes we can be happier parents! We need to turn our attention to the habits and concessions we’ve made and make some important changes. And don’t worry about feeling guilty. Parents who are happier have kids who are happier!

What makes you happy?

  • Laughing with a friend over coffee?
  • Performing on stage?
  • Dancing?
  • Biking?
  • Exercising?
  • Yoga?
  • Playing an instrument?
  • Reading a good book?
  • Going out to dinner with your main squeeze?

NOW– Want to know exactly what to do? I interviewed New York Times contributing editor and columnist (remember Motherlode?), KJ Dell’Antonia about her forthcoming book, How to Be a Happier Parent, and we discussed some things we have to stop doing and some things we need to start doing to ensure our happiness. She says some controversial things like “don’t put your children first unless they are bleeding” which may make you dig your heals in and question how what she is saying applies to you- but it’s kind of like the whole airplane directive (put your own mask on first before assisting others).

Take a listen. It’s right on my #talktokids podcast over here.

Here’s to you and wishing you a lifetime of happiness (starting…now!)

Xoxo,