Guilty Pleasures

While it may be easy to shy away from this conversation and put it off until later, research shows there’s no better time to have this conversation with your kids than right now. A lot of parents default to tackling the sex talk when their kids enter high school, but it’s important to begin guiding “the big talk” as early as preschool. It turns out, the more positive, value-centered sex education kids receive at home, the less promiscuous they’ll be.

Author Jim Burns believes the key to instilling in children a healthy, values centered view of sexuality is to start the discussion early–being open and honest at every stage. The Pure Foundations series is already guiding parents of preteens and teens through potentially awkward conversations. Now two fully illustrated books–one for pre-readers and one for early readers–complete the series.God Made Your Body provides the basic foundation that God created our bodies and wants us to honor Him with our bodies. Through engaging text and eye-catching, kid-friendly illustrations, children ages 3 to 5 will learn that boys’ and girls’ bodies are different–and those differences mean boys and girls can grow up to become daddies and mommies.

It’s not just the birds and the bees anymore. You may have been eleven once, but you were never their age. Thanks to the Internet, graphic images in the media, and their “knowitall” friends, kids today grow up earlier than ever. They have questions, and as a parent, your responsibility is to clear up the mixed messages and lead them to a healthy, valuecentered view of sexuality. Sure, conversations with your kids about sex and their changing bodies can be uncomfortable but they don’t have to be. Jim Burns gives expert advice on how and when to talk with your children, and he provides answers to the most difficult questions your kids and teens might ask, like: How far is too far? If you do “everything but sex,” are you still a virgin? Is selfstimulation wrong? I think I’m addicted to porn. What can I do to get help? Is a boy/girl sleepover okay if there’s a chaperone? The world’s culture may have cheapened sex, but God’s view of sexuality is wonderfully made. Talking with your kids at a young age will help them make more godly decisions along the way, but they’ll need conversation with you at every age. This is your opportunity to establish in them a lasting sexual integrity that will extend throughout their lives.

Your role, as it relates to guiding your kid toward sexual integrity, will continually redefine itself through each phase of your child’s life, but in preschool, a parent’s role is to introduce them to their body. You can start by teaching your kid the names of their body parts, defining privacy, talking positively about their body and acknowledging differences between boys and girls.

Did you receive good, positive, or healthy sex education from your parents or the church growing up?

For a lot of us, that answer is no. And it’s not because the church or parents don’t want to give us quality, value-centered sex education. They did – they do. But the problem is, they don’t.

The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender is a collaboration of Christian pastors, leaders and theologians who aspire to be the Church’s most trusted source of theologically sound teaching and practical guidance on questions related to sexuality and gender.

We seek to address two primary needs in the church. One, to help leaders cultivate a more robust biblical ethic of marriage, sexuality and gender. Two, to help churches and organizations create a safe and compassionate environment for LGBT+ people, their families, and anyone wrestling with their sexuality or gender identity.

To meet these two needs, we seek to educate not only pastors and leaders, but to help these leaders educate the people they lead by providing small group material, educational videos, podcasts, blogs, youth curriculum, and other resources.

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