Teaching Opportunities
SHOWING AFFECTION TO YOUR PARTNER-Giving a hug or kiss when dad is leaving for work or when mom comes home is a simple way to show healthy intimacy to your toddlers. They will soon want to participate. This can be a good time to talk about different kinds of intimacy with different people. Mom and dad give different intimacy to each other than they give to their children. Mom and dad may kiss on the lips and parents give children kisses on the cheek. This is a good time to model that explain why the intimacy is different within each relationship.
SEX IS NOT 'NAUGHTY'- Try to be very specific when you ban media from your home. Banning something "because it has sex in it" creates a misconception that sex is bad or naughty. It's not. It is the deepest form of connection we experience with others. Another way you could explain this ban would be to say "We don't watch those kind of shows because of the way it depicts sex." This can start a conversation with your child about how sex is depicted and what sex really is.
At this point in the child's life the parent can be a sounding board for developing their own sexual values. There isn't a whole lot of teaching mainly because by now teenagers aren't listening to your direct advice. That doesn't mean they don't know what you would say, they do from years of past conversations. All the parent needs to do is take advantage of the opportunities that arise.