Today, there are two different types of sex education classes. Depending on what your state or local school district mandates, your teen will either be learning the Comprehensive Sexuality Education or the Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Program. These programs represent two completely different schools of thought, but either way, it is imperative for you to know what your child is learning. You will need to do your best not to get caught up in the politics of the sex education classes as much as be the buffer or the fill-in person for your teenager.
Comprehensive Sexuality Education is a program that starts in kindergarten and continues through high school. It brings up age appropriate sexuality topics and covers the broad spectrum of sex education, including safe sex, STDs, contraceptives, masturbation, body image, and more. If this is the type of sex education your teen is receiving at school there may be times that you need to buffer some of the information, as it may have come sooner than your teenager needed it.
Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs emphasize abstinence from all sexual behaviors and do not cover information on contraceptives, STDs, masturbation, etc. If this is the sexual education program your teenager is in, you will need to be prepared to teach your teenager about these topics. You will need to be prepared to be the person who fills them in on the information.
Typically, most schools fall in the middle of the two types of programs. Either way, you will need to know what your teenager is being - or is not being - taught about sex and their sexuality. Then you can be prepared for their questions with the correct answers, and not leave it to their friends or the media to educate them.
Related Parenting Quiz: Are you raising a healthy teen?
Parenting Poll: Do you think that today’s sex education classes are working for your young teen?
- Yes. I think my teen is learning something from a combination of his/her sexual education class and our talks at home.
- Yes, I think my teen is learning something from his/her sexual education class. I need to step up the talks at home.
- No, I think he/she isn’t learning as much as he/she needs.
- I’m not sure.
- My teen doesn’t have sex education class at school.
Parenting Quizzes for Parents of Teens
- Quiz: Are you raising a healthy teen?
- Quiz: Is your teen safe online?
- Quiz: Do you have a case of parental burnout?
- Quiz: Is your teen over-scheduled?
- Quiz: Are you raising a mean girl?
- How Well Do You Really Know Your Teen?
- Screening Quiz: Is Your Teen Lying?
Parenting Classes
