Beyond the Big Talk: A Parent's Guide to Raising Sexually Healthy Teens - From Middle School to High School and Beyond

Every parent needs help in guiding their teenagers through the difficult adolescent years, when they face peer pressure, dating, alcohol, drugs, harassment, and pressure to have sex, among many issues. In this revised and updated edition of her acclaimed book, parenting educator Debra Haffner offers invaluable practical advice, sample conversations, and checklists that parents can use to talk to their teens. The book includes:

• “Values Exercises” to help you identify and communicate your beliefs to your teens
• “Special Issues” to advise you on discussing difficult topics such as eating disorders and date rape, and responding to your teen’s questions about your own sexual history
• “Teachable Moments” to help you recognize opportunities or entry points into a discussion of important issues.

“Don’t wait for your teen to say, ‘I want to talk to you about sex today.’ It’s not going to happen,” writes Haffner’s daughter, Alyssa, in the book’s Foreword. “You will probably have to initiate the discussion. It may be difficult at first, but most teens will talk to their parents if we think you are comfortable talking to us.”

Debra W. Haffner has been a parenting educator for more than twenty-five years, regularly speaks to parent groups across the country, and appears frequently on national TV, including CNN, Today, and The O'Reilly Factor. She holds a Master's in Public Health from Yale University School of Medicine and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary. She is an ordained minister with the Unitarian Church in Westport, Connecticut.