Keys to Your Child's Healthy Sexuality (Barron's Parenting Keys)

Rating:
Summary: Nice & easy-to-use ideas for talking to our kids about sex.
Review: I like the easy-to-read, gentle, mater-of-fact style of this book. Besides practical, easy-to-use ideas for talking to my children about sex, there were some nice reminders for me about good parenting and communication. I really liked the "time-in" idea for parents and their children. I tend to get nervous when thinking about talking to my children about sex; reading this book I could feel my tension ease as I thought, "Of course, that's a good way to put it. I could say that."

Rating:
Summary: Solid information for nervous parents
Review: This isn't my favorite "sex ed" book for parents, but it's up near the top. Chrystal DeFreitas does a good job breaking information into logical and readable chunks, and topics are arranged logically by both major subject and age group.

I particularly like the emphasis the author puts on parent-child communication, and on using everyday events as "teachable moments" in the overall sexuality education of the child. She encourages parents to have many small, informal talks with the child, rather than "the talk" -- which is almost universally embarrassing and ineffective for both parent and child.

I do feel that some of the sections (such as "privacy vs. secrecy" and the single-parent material) represent wishful thinking rather than the realities of parenting for many of us. However, this doesn't mean the information isn't useful; just that I think it should be taken with a grain of salt, and that additional resources are always useful in filling gaps in any particular work.

I would recommend DeFreitas' book to any parent who has ever stuttered or mumbled in answer to their child's questions about sexuality. She gives many positive examples of tactics parents can use to teach, while encouraging them to supply their own personal and moral beliefs (something many authors forget to mention).

Rating:
Summary: Solid information for nervous parents
Review: This isn't my favorite "sex ed" book for parents, but it's up near the top. Chrystal DeFreitas does a good job breaking information into logical and readable chunks, and topics are arranged logically by both major subject and age group.

I particularly like the emphasis the author puts on parent-child communication, and on using everyday events as "teachable moments" in the overall sexuality education of the child. She encourages parents to have many small, informal talks with the child, rather than "the talk" -- which is almost universally embarrassing and ineffective for both parent and child.

I do feel that some of the sections (such as "privacy vs. secrecy" and the single-parent material) represent wishful thinking rather than the realities of parenting for many of us. However, this doesn't mean the information isn't useful; just that I think it should be taken with a grain of salt, and that additional resources are always useful in filling gaps in any particular work.

I would recommend DeFreitas' book to any parent who has ever stuttered or mumbled in answer to their child's questions about sexuality. She gives many positive examples of tactics parents can use to teach, while encouraging them to supply their own personal and moral beliefs (something many authors forget to mention).