A crash course for parents on talking to teens and older kids about sex in order to keep them healthy, happy, and safe--and how to do it so in a way to have your kids listen Too often, parents wear blinders when it comes to the sex lives of their children. They hear the statistics--how 80% of college students have engaged in rough sex or choking; how 44% have shared nude or suggestive photos via text--and think, "Not my kid."
Yes, Your Kid is the reality check parents need about what sex is like today--so they can better educate and support their tweens, teens, and college students.
Combining insights from cutting-edge research, dozens of conversations with college students, and on-the-ground legal experience, Yes, Your Kid provides:
- An overview of key topics in sexuality, from communication and consent to pornography and rough sex, describing how things have changed
- Real-world legal stories illustrating today's consensual sex pitfalls--and how to help your child avoid them
- Age-appropriate tools to not only talk to tweens, teens, and college-aged kids about sex and consent, but also build a healthy foundation with younger children
- Concrete advice parents can share directly with their children so that--if and when their children become sexually active with partners--they are more likely to have safer, consensual sex
- Plus, a chapter focused on the consent, communication, and relationship education needs of young people on the autism spectrum
Parents of teenagers and young adults have enormous catching up to do to understand how sexting, internet porn, TikTok, Title IX, and more have shaped sex for young people. Authoritative, supportive, sex-positive, and facts-forward,
Yes, Your Kid provides parents with the frank, accurate information they and their children need to safely navigate today's sexual landscape.
Industry Reviews
"""An essential read for parents, educators, and anyone else trying to support our teens' sexual health in a complex and increasingly digital world.""
—Ina Park, MD, author of Strange Bedfellows: Adventures in the Science, History, and Surprising Secrets of STDs
""This book takes parent sex ed to a whole new level with practical dialogue, frank discussions, and especially the extra layer of unexpected potential legal ramifications.""
—Jill Grimes, MD, FAAFP, author of The Ultimate College Student Health Handbook
""This phenomenal resource offers guidance for talking with kids of any age about how to value themselves, how to value others, and how to create a world that uplifts rather than tears down. It's a must-have for every adult who's ever asked, ‘How do I talk with my kid about that?'""
—Al Vernacchio, author of For Goodness Sex
""This is the book parents and caregivers need to feel more confident raising kids in today's tech-, sex-, and social media–saturated world. Loaded with practical tips and helpful scripts, backed by research, this is a must-read for becoming an askable, informed adult to young people.""
—Melissa Pintor Carnagey, LBSW, founder and lead educator at Sex Positive Families and author of Sex Positive Talks to Have with Kids
""As a college health and STD expert, I regularly see the challenging consequences of hormone-, alcohol-, and/or drug-fueled impulsive choices. These topics are frankly awkward or uncomfortable for most, but parents need to know what Yes, Your Kid reveals. This book takes parent sex-ed to a whole new level with practical dialog, frank discussions, and especially the extra layer of unexpected potential legal ramifications.""
—Jill Grimes, MD, FAAFP, author of Seductive Delusions and The Ultimate College Student Health Handbook
""Parents need not dread ‘the talk' about sex any longer. In Yes, Your Kid, Debby Herbenick provides us with the skills we need to become the ultimate ‘askable parent' when it comes to sexuality. Full of wisdom, cutting-edge research, and practical advice, Yes, Your Kid is an essential read for parents, educators, and anyone else trying to support our teens' sexual health in a complex and increasingly digital world.""
—Ina Park, MD, author of Strange Bedfellows
""Yes, Your Kid should be the trusted resource for all parents who care about guiding their tweens and teens toward healthy exploration of relationships and sexuality. Some of it may seem shocking, but so is the sexual content our kids are growing up with . . . Read it cover to cover, then come back to it as a reference book to address each of the issues at the right time for your child and your family.""
—Melisa Holmes, MD, FACOG, pediatric and adolescent gynecologist, mother of three, cofounder of Girlology, and author of You-ology
""Using a conversational approach, Debby Herbenick and her coauthors do not shy away from unpacking difficult and yet crucial topics such as consent, puberty, sexual and reproductive health, sex and technology, pornography, and many more. Yes, Your Kid is the book I wish I had had when my three daughters were growing up as it provides parents with the language and the tools to broach these topics with confidence and knowledge.""
—Jayneen Sanders, author of My Body! What I Say Goes! and Let's Talk About Body Boundaries, Consent, and Respect
""Media and the internet are having a profound impact on situations teens are facing with peers and those wishing to exploit. To protect their kids, parents must inform themselves and educate their children. Dr. Herbenick clearly explains the changing sexual landscape in our country, and gives practical advice on how to talk with youth at each stage to equip them in protecting themselves while simultaneously building strong, caring, and mutually protective relationships.""
—Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers, PhD, LMFT, CST-S, author of Shameless Parenting
""Parenting today is not for the faint of heart—and that's where Yes, Your Kid comes in to save the day. With common-sense and research-based advice about how to talk to kids and teens about sexuality, it's the resource parents need right now. With discussions around sexuality so different from when today's parents were kids, and so many changes in technology, we all need more information than what we learned in sex ed class so long ago.""
—Jean M. Twenge, PhD, author ofGenerations"
