You might think that sex would be a sensitive and even an embarrassing subject for children…so they would naturally be more comfortable learning about it from people other than their parents. But not so.
The Kaiser Foundation reports that
medical research and public health data tell us that when young children want information, advice, and guidance, they turn to their parents first. Once they reach the teenage years, they tend to depend more on friends, the media and other outsiders for their information.1
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy’s research concluded “that teens would like more guidance, information and conversation with parents and other adults about their early relationships.”2
The encouraging news is that if you as a parent build a loving, warm relationship with your children early on, then in their teen years your kids will more likely depend more on you than on their friends, the media, and the Internet for information on sex. The Talk Institute observes that “most young people prefer that their parents be the primary source of sex information and that their mothers and fathers share equally in this responsibility.”3
An American demographic study shows that “67 percent of teens ‘give Mom an A.’ They tell interviewers for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy that they want more advice about sex from their parents.”4 Recently ABC News reported that “young adolescents place parents at the top of their list of influences when it comes to their sexual attitudes and behaviors.”5 Your kids prefer you as their source of learning about sex. God has given you the privilege and opportunity to mold your child’s sexual worldview.