Hello everyone, I’m going to be honest with you, working
on Couple’s Therapy has been almost a two year process and while I had plenty
of ups and downs with this book I am proud mother of my third book.
I got my inspiration for Couple’s Therapy from my own
experience of going through marriage counseling with my supportive and loving
husband, Kerri. We have been married for almost eleven years and I would be
less than honest in saying that we have the perfect marriage because we don’t.
Kerri and I married young, we have a large family and we are two very
strong-minded individuals who don’t always see eye-to-eye. He and I sought
therapy because we were having a serious issue communicating with one
another on top of the fact that we went through a very stressful time after the
birth of our sixth child, Januari. Therapy gave us the tools that we needed to
communicate with one another rather than at one another and ultimately helped
us overcome our issues. Even though Kerri and I are in a much better place in
our marriage, we wouldn't hesitate to go back to therapy if the water turned
murky.
Speaking of professional help we thought that we were going
to need it when we had to have the dreaded talk with our fourteen-year-old
daughter recently. Now don’t get me wrong, we have had the talk with our now
nineteen-year-old and our now sixteen-year-old, but I cannot stress to parents
the importance of treating your children as individuals and approaching them in
ways that are suited for them. The approach that we used with our two older
children would not have worked for our fourteen year old daughter because she
is a totally different type of kid.
Peaceful is a very bright and
brilliant young girl who is the epitome of a Disney kid. She has a personality
that lights up a room and trust me once people meet her she is hard to forget. My
great-grandmother was in her late 90’s before she passed and when I came to
visit her she asked about Peaceful. Not many kids get the opportunity to meet
their great-great-grandmother, but not only did PJ get to meet Grandma, but she
was also the only one out of six of my children that she remembered!
Now that PJ is headed to high school in August and we've
noticed a few not so subtle changes that have been occurring. First, this tall
kid walked into my bedroom and began to talk and all that I noticed were legs
that seemed to go on for miles then I noticed that she has hips, a definite waist
line and BOOBS! My Disney baby now has a body! While I noticed the changes in
her body my husband saw that she has begun to take an interest in
boys and have even caught her chatting and texting a few boys from time-to-time.
With our new findings we decided that it was time to have the talk with
our sweetheart.
We consider ourselves experts being that we
have been on the emotional roller coaster of raising a teenager a few times and have had the talk with our other kids, but then again our two older kids
aren't as quirky as the fourteen-year-old so this talk was somewhat challenging
and we were prepared.
The thing to remember when discussing sex with your
teenagers is that you have to be comfortable and honest. The worse thing that a
parent can do when discussing sex with their kids is simply telling them not to
have sex. Trust me parents that does NOT work. . My parents told me not to do it, I did it and I have a nineteen-year-old to prove that simply telling your kid not to have sex does not work. We all know that when a child hears the word no they are more drawn to what it is they are being told not to do.
Also, parents try
not to make a big to-do about the talk. It is just sex; you aren't giving them
the nuclear launch codes. I have a
friend who found a condom in her sixteen-year-old son’s bedroom and they
decided that it was time to have the talk with him by her husband taking him on
a drive. It felt as if he were a rabid dog about to be put out of his
misery. Parents the big production is not necessary!
In my opinion it is best to approach the talk by having a glass of wine beforehand so that you are nice and relaxed as possible.
While you and the kid are alone I suggest just approaching the conversation as
light hearted as possible and simply ask him/her if they’d thought about sex. This
can be done while running errands, while eating pizza or even while lounging
around the house doing nothing. The point is to make an already uncomfortable
situation slightly more comfortable. One simple question will get the ball
rolling, “Hey honey, have you thought about sex?” I know that it sounds kind of
weird because it is a weird question coming from your parent, but it is an open
question that will probably turn a few faces red, but once you get the
conversation started your embarrassment will go away. Let them know that sex is
a normal part of life and that while you don’t condone teenage sex you want to
make sure that they are responsible.
The key word here is RESPONSIBILITY.
I am not condoning teenage sex, but I do condone RESPONSIBILITY
and that means that if my kids are going to be sexually active they are going
to be responsible. Yes we talk to them about STDs, teenage pregnancy, gaining a
bad reputation or having their heartbroken, but by teaching them how to be responsible
they can almost eliminate all of those problems. What we wanted them to understand was that we
understood what they were going through because we were not born adults and we
went through the same feelings at one point. We want our children to understand
that while it is uncomfortable we want them to come to us when they felt that
they were ready to have sex. I would rather my children come to me than to
learn from their friends.
I can’t police my teenager’s bodies because I cannot be
around them 24/7 and I want to be comfortable in knowing that I taught my kids
how to make their own decisions in life by making the right choices. We showed
my son and daughter the proper way to open and put on a condom (bananas make
for a great prop). We advised him on the proper method of flushing the used
condom. My husband drilled into my son’s head that if a girl says no that means
NO. My girls know about birth control and how no matter how much a guy tells
you that he loves you those feeling can change after he gets what he wants and
that babies have the magical ability to change minds almost immediately.
I remember getting a lot of criticism for putting my
daughter on birth control at the age of thirteen, but six years later I am not
a grandmother so I think that I made the right decision. Some said that by
putting my daughter on birth control I was giving her permission to have sex. I
said what a load of bullshit because these kids are going to have sex
regardless if we put them on birth control or not. We were elated when our son
came to us and told us that he and his girlfriend were thinking about having
sex and asked if we could purchase him a package of condoms. No we were not
happy that he was having sex and we told him that we didn't condone teenagers
being sexually active, but we were happy that he trusted us enough to come to
us when he was ready.
OMG TEENAGERS DO
LISTEN!
Let’s be real, we cannot stop our teenagers from being
sexually active any more than our parents did to stop us. Where there is a will
teenagers will find a way. I know it is a hard pill to swallow, but its
best that you gulp real hard and get it out of the way. You will save yourself
a whole lot of headache. Parents I implore you to talk to your kids like they
are human beings and remember that you were once in the same place no matter
how long ago.