Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know about Sex but Were Afraid They'd Ask: The Secrets to Surviving Your Child's Sexual Development from Birth to the Teens FROM THE PUBLISHER
Written by two Harvard-trained doctors, this one-of-a-kind survival guide helps parents stay sane through every stage of their child’s sexual development—from infancy to the teen years and beyond.
Our generation was supposed to have sex all figured out. We knew it was healthy. We were too cool to ever get flustered. Then we had kids. And when those kids showed up with sexual ambitions of their own, suddenly we didn’t feel so cool anymore. In fact, the confusion, fear, and (let’s face it) outright panic we felt the moment our five-year-olds started asking, “Mommy, do you like to rub your wiener, too?” might have done our own parents proud.
Well, understanding kids’ sexuality doesn’t have to be an angst-ridden enterprise. With confidence, wisdom, and humor, Dr. Justin Richardson, a psychiatrist and noted consultant on youth and sex, and Dr. Mark A. Schuster, a pediatrician and leading researcher on parenting strategies and adolescent sexuality, help us regain our equilibrium with this remarkable book.
Smart, frank, and occasionally hilarious, this comprehensive guide offers practical and often surprising answers to the questions that bedevil parents at every stage in their children’s coming-of-age. What do you say when your four-year-old daughter walks in on you having sex? What about when you walk in on her and the girl next door finger painting each other’s bottoms? What, exactly, should you tell your third-grader about sex, and if he says, “That’s gross!” does that mean you’ve said too much? And what about teenagers? Should you buy your son condoms? Should you try to prevent your daughterfrom having sex? Does telling her to wait actually work? Drs. Richardson and Schuster tackle these and countless other crucial challenges you’re likely to face in the first twenty or so years of your children’s lives.
Packed with the latest research on parenting techniques and childhood sexuality and filled with helpful stories from real parents about what worked (and what didn’t) with their kids, this authoritative volume offers advice and comfort to anyone who is hoping to have a productive dialogue with young people about sex. Whether your focus is on protecting your teens from STDs or raising your little ones to understand their bodies, Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid They’d Ask) is an indispensable resource that is sure to leave you educated, entertained, and relieved.
Author Biography: JUSTIN RICHARDSON, M.D., is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia and Cornell universities and a well-known authority on kids and sex.
MARK A. SCHUSTER, M.D., PH.D., is an associate professor of pediatrics and public health at UCLA,
codirector of the Center for Child and Adolescent Health Research at RAND, and director of the UCLA/RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Richardson, an assistant psychiatry professor at Columbia and Cornell who maintains a private practice in psychiatry, and Schuster, a UCLA associate professor of pediatrics and public health and the founding director of a CDC-sponsored adolescent health center, bring extraordinary expertise and scintillating intelligence to this guide to coping with a child's sexual maturation. Acknowledging that kids are "inherently sexual" (male fetuses, for example, have erections in utero), the authors show how parents can influence their children's sexual development in healthy ways through honest communication. With this forthright and reassuring volume, the Richardson and Schuster prove themselves models of that skill. They walk readers through the development of an average girl and boy, from infant "seeds" of sexuality to teenager's first experience of intercourse, and fearlessly cover topics from toddler sex play to dating, love, homosexuality, masturbation, birth control, STDs and pregnancy. Thoroughly researched, extremely well written and chock-full of personal stories from parents, this "survival guide" should be required reading for any parent who believes in being open about these touchy issues. (Feb.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Richardson, a youth psychiatrist at Cornell and Columbia Universities, and Schuster, a pediatrician at UCLA, join forces in this insightful, data-based, and witty guide for parents. Detailed, meaty chapters track a child's sexual development in stages, introducing issues for each and how to discuss them. Gay parenthood, gay children, disabled children, oral sex, outercourse, definitions of abstinence, words to use for sexual body parts, declarations about "marrying mommy" (or daddy), and teen parenthood-important topics sometimes omitted from similar books-are thankfully incorporated here. The authors accommodate variations in values, from "teen sex is fine" to "save it for marriage," and support their advice with scholarly research, plus numerous wonderful examples, personal stories, and quotations. Though the book lacks a resource list, references, and illustrations and would have benefited from more coverage of sexual abuse, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Moreover, it is so entertaining that parents might actually read it. Of the many recent guides on the subject (e.g., Lauri Berkenkamp and Steven C. Atkins's Talking to Your Kids About Sex and Deborah M. Roffman's Sex & Sensibility), this is toward the top. Highly recommended for all public libraries.-Martha Cornog, Philadelphia
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