Talking to Your Kids about Sex: From Toddlers to Preteens: A Go Parents! Guide FROM THE PUBLISHER
This commonsense, practical guide to talking to children about sex provides ways to launch conversations following some of the most common kid comments and questions: Whatﾽs That Thing? Iﾽm Going to Marry Mommy. Sex Is When You Kiss. I Donﾽt Want to Talk About It. From teaching toddlers about body parts to important discussions with adolescents, this resource encourages parents to understand what children of particular ages and developmental levels are ready to know, what they should know, and how to tell them. Real-life questions and answers encourage parents to prepare for their talks and make discussions easier. Moreover, ideas for discussing this sensitive subject with a sense of humor help take away some of the awkwardnessﾽfor both children and parents.
Lauri Berkenkamp is the mother of four school-age children and is the author of ﾽMom, The Toiletﾽs Clogged!ﾽ Steven C. Atkins, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist and clinical associate at Dartmouth Medical Schoolﾽs department of child psychiatry. They are coauthors of Teaching Your Children Good Manners. She lives in Strafford, Vermont. He lives in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire.
FROM THE CRITICS
Children's Literature - Meredith Kiger, Ph.D.
According to the preface, this book 'takes a common sense, practical approach to helping parents talk to their children about a topic that makes many people uncomfortable.' The text takes a developmental approach emphasizing the various meanings of sex for the various ages, toddler to preteen. The six chapters begin with the toddler age, when most children begin to discover the differences between males and females. The book's interesting and entertaining format includes advice, scenarios and frequent questions asked by individuals of that particular age group. The overall tone is one of encouragement and straightforward language. The quirky cartoon drawings help to lighten the load. It is a reference book and a how-to book to keep on hand as your child moves through the various stages of development. Labeled drawings of the male and female anatomy are included as well as a list of additional resources. A "Go Parents Guide" book. 2002, Nomad Communication, Ages Adult.
Library Journal
The "Go Parents!" series (e.g., Teaching Your Children Good Manners) is designed to infuse the task of carrying out parental responsibilities with humor and enjoyment. The latest entry tackles sexuality issues. Berkenkamp, a mother of four, and Atkins, a child psychologist, offer basic advice and information on what to expect for each age group, toddler to age 12, with a short sample question-and-answer section at the end. In a useful twist, they recommend asking children what they think is the answer to a question before beginning an explanation. Each chapter contains a games-and-activities section, a nice feature. This book is accessible, easy to read, and free of intellectual leanings. Recommended for public libraries with the caveat that it does not address teenagers. Roffman is a certified sexuality educator and author of Sex and Sensibility: The Thinking Parent's Guide to Talking Sense About Sex. Like her first book, this one takes a highly intellectual approach while conveying information through an excellent "five universal needs" structure (i.e., affirmation, information giving, values clarification, limit setting, and anticipatory guidance). But there are few sample dialogs, questions raised in one section may be answered unexpectedly much later or sometimes not at all, and the author assumes upper- to middle-class intellectual/cultural background and knowledge. An optional purchase; better buys are Sol and Judith Gordon's Raising a Child Responsibly in a Sexually Permissive World, which also addresses disabled youth, and Mary Calderone and James Ramey's Talking with Your Child About Sex, still valuable for its copious sample questions and answers. Martha Cornog, Philadelphia Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
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