We live in a world full of tough topics. And when it comes to our kids, silence is not always golden.
If we fail to talk to our kids about the tough stuff, someone else certainly will.
I can remember having “the talk” with each of our kids as preteens.
However, more conversations than I can remember about sexuality were had in both the years before and after “the talk.”
We intentionally learned to get comfortable talking to our kids about tough topics. Looking back, I’m glad we did.
Why? Because children don’t have a choice about becoming a disciple. But they do have a choice about whose disciple they will become.
Because of this, parents should not be ashamed to discuss what God was not ashamed to create.
Because if our kids don’t hear certain things from us, that doesn’t mean that they won’t hear about them.
It just means they’ll hear about them from someone else’s perspective than ours.
SEX POSITIVE OR SEX NEGATIVE?
Honest question: Is your family sex-positive or sex-negative? Many of us may have grown up in a sex-negative environment where the topic of sex or anything remotely surrounding it was taboo. And when it was mentioned, it always seemed to be in the negative.
As Christian parents, we have the opportunity to change that for our kids. Never before have unbiblical things so blatantly been thrust in front of our children as they are today.
Never before has it been as important for Christian families to have regular and ongoing discussions about God’s view of all these things through a positive, biblical lens.
Our children need to be raised in a sex-positive home where sex and our individual sexuality is treated as the good and godly gift that it is—a gift with perfect timing and purpose when used according to God’s plan.
So don’t be ashamed to discuss what God was not ashamed to create.
Words left unsaid and conversations never had can be damaging to a parent-child relationship. Silence is not always golden.
But openness, transparency, and a level of vulnerability can go a long way. Why? Because kids would rather have a parent who’s always real than one who’s always right.
What topic could you address or age-appropriate conversation could you have with your child this week to meet them where they are?
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Godly Parent.
Featured Image by Daniel Joshua from Pixabay
