Sex And Sensibility The Thinking Parents Guide To Talking Sense About Sex

by Roffman, Deborah

• ISBN13: 9780738205205
• ISBN10: 0738205206
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-12-20
• Publisher: Balance

Summary

With a rare directness and clarity about sex and reproduction, sexual values, and cultural influences on sexuality, Deborah Roffman challenges and teaches readers how to develop a blueprint for opening the lines of communication with children of all ages. Sex and Sensibility introduces the five core parenting skills that parents need to confidently interpret and comfortably respond to virtually any question a child might pose or any situation that arises. Powerfully instructive and thought provoking, it should be required reading for parents; it will inspire honest talk about sex and sexuality, helping all of us be better parents for the effort.

Author Biography

Deborah M. Roffman, M.S., a nationally certified Sexuality and Family Life Educator, is an associate editor of the Journal of Sex Education and Therapy and the author of Sex and Sensibility. She has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and USA Today. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Preface: My Mother Always Wanted Me to Be a Sex Educator, and Other Myths	xiii
Part 1 New Ways of Thinking and Talking
Starting Over: We Can't Get There From Here	1	(18)
Age Appropriateness: Too Much, Too Little, Or Just Right?	19	(25)
What Is Sex, Really?	44	(17)
Values: Becoming Your Child's Cultural Interpreter	61	(30)
Sexuality: More Who We Are Than What We Do	91	(17)
Gender: Girls Aren't from Venus, Boys Aren't from Mars	108	(34)
Partnership: Families and Schools Working Together	142	(26)
Part 2 Raising Sexually Healthy Children
Sexual Health: Five Universal Needs Along the Way	168	(17)
Affirmation: Seeing and Hearing Children as They Are	185	(25)
Information Giving: Empowering Children Through Knowledge	210	(25)
Values Clarification: Highlighting ``Right'' Thinking	235	(23)
Limit Setting: Keeping Our Children Safe and Healthy	258	(21)
Anticipatory Guidance: Making Ourselves Dispensable	279	(22)
Sexual Orientation: Why and How It's Everyone's Business	301	(20)
Notes	321