What on earth do you say when your kids bark back at you: "Well, everybody else is doing it."
Well if you are stumped for an intelligent answer imagine how much harder it is for a youth to answer the statement when posed by a peer?
Sexual health educator and nurse Rae McDonald has a few suggestions. She gave them to parents to share with their kids this week at a meeting on how to talk to your kids about sex.
Most hinge on helping youth boost their own self-esteem and treat kids with respect.
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: Everybody’s doing it.Reply
: Well, I’m not everybody, I’m me. Besides I don’t think everybody is doing it. I think it is a lot of talk.Line:
Don’t you want to try it and see what it is like?Reply:
I think that is a poor reason to have sex, pretending to care just so that you can see what it is like. No thanks.Line:
Come on take a drink. It will get you in the mood.Reply
: No thanks, I’ve had enough. I don’t want to get drunk and not know what I am doing.Line
: A lot of your friends are doing it. You’re just not with it.Reply:
What my friends decide to do is their business. I make my own decisions. What my friends decide is right for them isn’t necessarily right for me. I’ve decided to wait. That’s my decision.
