Are You Having "The Talk"?

Oprah and O Magazine have done a feature on how parents are discussing sex with their daughters. A survey done by the magazine in conjunction with Seventeen magazine revealed a few surprising issues. The most significant result is that most parents think that they have had the talk with their teens - but only a small fraction of teens feel as if it has happened. What can parents do to have more of an impact?

Discussing sex with your teen should not be a one-time discussion. Talk about abstienence or birth control when a teen pregnancy happens at school or comes up in the media. Talk about sex and how it can be used as a way to be abusive in a relationship. Talk about how oral sex really is sex. Talk about your expectations. Talk about what the statistics say - that teens do wait and those who have sex regret it. The O/Seventeen study suggests that our teens want a continuous conversation, not a one-time discussion. The study also says that when we talk about waiting to have sex and the importance of using birth control if it's happening - they really do listen.