Resources for parents
At Learning Consent we often receive emails from parents who are keen to know when and how to best engage with their young person around the subject of consent, and sexualities in general.
There are a couple of online resources we always recommend as a starting point. One is an excellent free resource developed by WA Health called Talk Soon Talk Often: A guide for parents talking to their kids about sex.
The guide was recently updated and it has been developed to help parents initiate regular and relaxed conversations with their children about relationships and sexuality education. Content includes:
age and stage guidance for parents of children 0 to 18 years
how to answer tricky questions on topics such as how babies are made, puberty, sexting, contraception and sex
conversation starters
key messages on preparing your teen for healthy sexually active lives, consent, contraception and sexually transmissible infections
Australian statistics
references to services and reliable websites and books
There is also a fantastic accompanying resource titled Yarning Quiet Ways, based on Talk soon. Talk often, developed in consultation with Aboriginal families. It gives tips to parents of young Aboriginal people to help make yarning about sex and relationships a little easier.
The other resources we recommend are for parents who are looking for some guidance around engaging with their young person on the subject of pornography. There are two excellent websites - both with content for parents and young people.
The first is New Zealand Government website ‘Keep it real online’. It offers tools and advice on the issues of pornography, online bullying and online grooming. As part of their public awareness campaign, they launched a series of ads showing parents and caregivers how to help their children and young people manage online bullying, inappropriate content, pornography and grooming. We think the pornography one is fantastic, and we use it in many of our consent training sessions.
The other great resource we recommend is Australian website ‘It’s time we talked’. The site unpacks the latest research on pornography and young people and has a number of fantastic short video interviews with young people themselves, as well as porn performers, on the subject of pornography. These can be great conversational tools for parents.
Learning Consent recommended resources for parents:
https://itstimewetalked.com/parents/why-is-porn-a-parenting-issue/
https://www.healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/S_T/Talk-soon-Talk-often
