Teens want to talk more about sex, parents are too embarrassed!

Community Classes for parents would be a good idea. The problem is that some parents do not want their children to have sex so they have that notorious tendency to mystify the issue making it even worse.

id be scared (as a parent) too.....

I remember my parents gave me the classic book, Where Did I Come From? when I was young. I am female, and truly all my sex talks were between my mother and I. I didn't talk about it with my dad at all, and I still don't. I can see how it would be uncomfortable, but especially these days education is key!

I hope I have the kind of relationship with my kids where we can talk about anything and everything!! It's important.

I remember being in the 5th grade when my friend was convincing me that a condom prevented the guy from having a baby. I was a dumb kid and believed it for a while.

I remember my dad telling me once in regard to anything sexual, "If you have any questions you can always ask me or your mother.." And so I asked him a question, and he was like "uhhh... ummm..." and totally changed the subject. Yea. It's awkward for parents some times.

Geez you'd think kids get enough of sex talk with their friends.

I never had a talk with my parents but as a smart kid i figured it out.
Christ that was almost all we talked about in school, and it still is now....

I plan on being the extremely blunt parent on my kids. Like a candlestick on the head blunt. let them squirm....

i couldn't imagine talking to either of my parents about sex. i got all of my sex info from sex ed class and the internet. the closest thing would be my grandmother telling me to not have sex, especially with girls.

I sometimes tell my dad about my sex life and he freaks. He's goes nuts and say " i would have never talked to my father like this"

I always say "stop being gay old man""your a dude right?" he might have a point about boundaries but its 2008 right?

Scared as a parent? I'd have fun with it and try to make my kids feel as awkward as possible.

Seriously, how many kids want to hear their parents talk about sex? I'm an adult and I still don't enjoy that discussion with my folks. And what parent doesn't enjoy applying such trivial forms of mental torture to their children?

Maybe we should work as a culture on not being as uptight about such serious issues--until then, parents, politicians, religious figures, and really every other unqualified adult really need to stop meddling in school health and sex-education.

I guess a lot of parents were bought up in an age when they didn't talk about sex (even the 60s contained a lot of conservatism) - and their parents were certainly very unlikely to have spoken with them about it, they have no idea how to start as there're no precidents..

In today's safety driven world it would be in the parent's best interest to have an open and honest conversation about sex and love with their children. Not only will this promote safe sex, but encourage children to seek out partners with love in mind first. Sex and humans are a by-product of love afterall, something we tend to forget...

hmm, my parents have always been pretty frank about it with me. i mean...c'mon we all went through the exact same things, if i'm learning one thing from getting older it's that every generation basically goes through the same angst and confusion

though it is changing with technology

By not talking about it you set your children up to fail. You are sending them into the world unarmed and straight into the arms of teenagers who shouldn't be parents but are because you can't tell your child about a penis and a vagina's role in sex. Of course there's a lot more but who here is going to get into donkey punching and the like? Oh the blunt guy will.

Have parents always been this embarrassed by the subject, or are today's parents just cowards? If I ever have kids, I'll tell them what they need to know. How can a dad ever expect kids to grow up if you he doesn't do it himself?

My mom is in the medical field, so I knew about the "birds and bees" before I really knew what the heck they were talking about! When my friends would tell me babies came from the stork I would correct them using anatomically correct terms, no surprise after that some of them weren't allowed to talk to me anymore!

My parents bought me a big book on the body when I was eight. It covered everything from going to the bathroom (A crudely depicted drawing of a girl's bottom put me off girls for the next decade) to sex. It's not something to be embarrassed about, and the more a parent talks to their child about sex, the less at risk that child is.

Parents today are totally in denial and cowards. My folks never had the "sex talk" with me and I later resented them for it even though I just learned about it on my own. I was always the kid in school having to teach all my classmates about it because they were all clueless. This really shouldn't be.

We cannot rely on parents to teach their kids about anatomy and sex so it is absolutely imperative that schools integrate sex education into their curriculum. Abstinence-only education has already proven to be a failure and girls are more likely to engage in oral or anal. Wake up parents! Teens will engage in some form of sex no matter what and we should be teaching them about contraception and responsibility. Sexuality is not a shameful thing, nor is it something to be taken lightly.

It is quite absurd that we are so repressed about talking about sex. I for one think that sexuality should be discussed liberally with friends and family. Of course, much like any conversation you might have with friends and/or family there are various specificities that you don't want to bring up. (I.E. Talking to grandma about how much you enjoy a certain position)
I think that the vast majority of people just don't know how to bring up the subject because they've had no experience in expressing their thoughts and feelings about their sexuality or sexual oriented topics in a indirect setting. My wife and I are very open to each other about sexual topics which helps humanize the subject and makes it less taboo in a general sense.
Without posting half a dozen studies about sexuality, I would claim that the continued repression of sexuality and sexually related conversations further adds to the repression of sexuality. Our general reluctance to communicate between family, friends, lovers, and partners about our sexual questions and expressions precipitates an atmosphere of impermissible thoughts and actions. That which we think is outside the norm or taboo would demystified through open dialogue.

I would just tell my kids what the deal is. no need to back out ya know?

I don't understand why there is any fear to talk to their children about it. It is going to happen sooner or later, prepare your children!

Both of my parents talked (and sometimes still talk) to me about sex, and in turn I've never had a problem talking to them and asking them for advice concerning sex and relationships. I think I'm a much smarter and well-rounded person for it, and I have a strong relationship with my parents. It's always mystified me that so many parents find it so strange to speak to their children openly and honestly about such things.

When I have a kid I need to be the one to educate him/her on the world of sex and drugs. I've been trough both so I could give a better view on the subject than their friends. But the way America is... We are more comfortable with violence than sex. Sad isn't it?

that's all any kid talks about these days anyway.

Shame on you all Parents, Shame on you for not giving Limits, Education and support for Protection.

Woah ... some kids haven't got a chance, have they?

My school was forbidden from talking about condoms unless somebody asked! Outrageous.

i still have alot of questions with no answers about sex.
poor me.

My parents still won't talk to me about sex. I try to bring it up with them every day, but no dice.

My parents told me, "condoms save lives," long before I knew what it meant. If I ever have kids, that's what I'll tell them.

I can't even imagine my parents talking to me about sex. Frightening.

My mom has always been more than happy to talk to me about sex I was always the one feeling extreamly awkward talking about it with her.

My dad's advice was "Just don't be coming round here with no babies."

Since I was a smart, responsible, and all-around good kid anyway, I decided not to have sex until I was 18, because then I was technically an adult and could be considered responsible for my actions.

I actually laughed at my girlfriend in high school when she wanted to have sex. I told her "I can't have sex with you, your parents trust me."

Unfortunately I feel most kids in the world don't have such respect, consideration, and self control.

With all the garbage promoting casual sex from hip hop music to Paris Hilton, I would be scared as hell to be a parent these days.

Thank God I have gone above and beyond to avoid that scenario too.

If you are going to have sex, I highly recommend having the "abortion talk" ahead of time.

Please kids, I beg you, stop having sex and children in such irresponsible fashion. It is just plain wrong.

http://current.com/items/89118950_newsflash_teenage_pregnancy_is_not_glamorous

this is a pretty absurd interpretation.

Kids are embarrassed about wanting to talk to parents about sex because it's embarrassing to talk to parents about sex. Note the absence of the question "Do you want to talk about sex with your parents?"

I'm definitely not talking to my kids about sex.
It's better if the church teaches them so they can be sexually repressed and shameful, just like I was.