In today's culture of sexuality and preference, many teens are struggling to get a grasp on who they are and how best to approach the world. And to be perfectly honest, today's parents are struggling to keep up as well. It's a very different world than it was even 10 years ago. And to further complicate the issue, parents and teens often cringe at even the thought of discussing sex. But it's time we take a deep breath and get comfortable.

Authors Beth Robinson, EdD and Latayne C Scott, PhD approach this difficult subject in a straight forward manner that left me cringing at times. Right off the bat, I wanted to close my ears to many of the topics they were discussing. Today's teens are being confronted with issues that I didn't have to deal with until I was in my 30's. But they're crying out for guidance. In a sex saturated culture, they're looking to us for help and it's time we get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

The common argument is to not bring up many of these topics for fear of our teens being exposed too early or encouraging sexual promiscuity. But the truth is that much of this is already permeating our culture, whether we're aware of it or not. Talking with Teens about Sexuality provides a solid Biblical base from which to have these conversations and challenges both the parent and teen to deeply understand the issues.

This book approaches many intimate topics from sexual identity to social media, pornography to unplanned pregnancy. I found it to be filled with wisdom and encouragement. But most of all, I found it challenging... Talking with Teens about Sexuality challenged my own ideas on many of these issues and rekindled my fire as a parent to prayerfully guide my children in health and knowledge. This is one of the best books I've read on this topic and I'd highly recommend it to parents of today's teens.

*Disclaimer: I receive a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

For most parents, the topic of sex is at best simply awkward with their teens. Unfortunately, our society now has a perspective on sexuality that God is appalled by and we, as believing parents, are obligated to raise our children with a proper view of sexuality. So, even though my children are a few years away from being teens, this information is still vital to help us prepare for such conversations.

The basic premise of the book is teaching teens the godly, appropriate perspective of sexuality. Within this, Robinson & Scott address protecting oneself and how to treat others. Our world has drastically changed in the last 20-40 years, thus we must have a better understanding of what our children and teens are actually dealing with on a day to day basis.

The book consists of the following fourteen chapters:

- Get Real

- God's plan for sex

- What's happening developmentally?

- How teens relate to others

- You want me to talk about sex?

- Intimacy and boundaries

- Understanding relationships

- Sexual abuse and violence

- Social Media and technology

- This is your teen's brain on porn

- Disorienting sexuality

- Understanding gender issues

- Unplanned and unexpected

- The balancing act

As you can see, they cover a variety of topics related to sexuality. I greatly appreciate them addressing the breadth of topics rather than focusing on just one or the most popular. Both Robinson and Scott have an amazing realm of knowledge and experience. Their honesty and transparency within these topics is refreshing and eye-opening. They present the facts and statistics along with what our teens are really seeing and listening to each day and practical ways for parents to address this directly with their teens.

One of the most beneficial sections of the book is the Exploration with your Teen. Each chapter concludes with this section that provides talking points to discuss the particular subject with your teen. The more help and direction parents can receive to make these conversations normal, the better.

Any parent of any age kid should read this book in order to give them the knowledge and encouragement needed to address the society's current non-biblical views of sexuality.

I received a copy of this book from BethanyHouse in exchange for an honest review.

Critical conversations about/ Social Media/ Gender Identity/ Same-Sex Attraction/ Pornography/ Purity/ Dating/ Etc

After reading that subtitle, do I need to say more? This is something that is critically needed today. Teens are growing up in a culture that is sexually saturated and their parents can be worthless in helping them know how to navigate it because it is so different from the world they knew when they were teenagers.

I don't have teenagers yet, but I am passionate about wanting to equip my children to be able to handle the issues that they will face as they grow up. I want to teach my children the sanctity of marriage and sex within marriage. I want to teach them that God created sex and He created male and female and done right, it is all a beautiful thing. But I also feel like there is a need to be aware of the messages and lies that are being forced on our kids whether they want it or not, to teach them how to have healthy relationships, how to have good boundaries, and how to navigate this world they are living in.

I'm also aware that by the time my children are teenagers, the world will likely have shifted yet again and it will be new and different issues, but I picked up the book to learn skills in communicating, in talking about the hard things in life.

Beth and Latayne do that in this book and I feel they do it well. Beth is a counselor and works with teens and their families. She understands what is going on in today's world and this book helps equip parents to help their teens navigate this world.

At the end of each chapter, she has a section called "Exploration with your Teen". It's part questions, part Bible study, part talking points to help have those difficult conversations with your teens.

"Teens want us to use the real words and have real information for them...."

I really appreciated this book and think that the information they shared could prove very helpful in learning to hold meaningful conversations with teens. I think being honest and open even now with my own children will help me as we get closer and closer to the teen years.

I received this book from Bethany House and was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Talking with Teens about Sexuality* by Beth Robinson EdD and Latayne C Scott PhD is kind of painful to read as a parent, but so very important. I had no idea that certain concepts had completely saturated the teen world, like for example a certain sexual style being a cover story in Teen Vogue, and it really broke my heart. The takeaway here is that it's easy to not want to cover these topics with teens for fear that it'll in fact encourage these things, but that really it's a parent's job to introduce and discuss these concepts before TikTok does it for you. You should also know that the authors carry a traditionally Christian stance on sexuality, gender, and purity... But they approach it from the modern viewpoint that teens are constantly being bombarded with images and opinions on the subject and so the conversation needs to be had in your home regardless of which side of the fence you sit on. This book will certainly not leave you feeling cheerful about the state of the world but it will give you the necessary tools to have these tough conversations.

* I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review