Parents Matter! Program Content
- Risk Awareness
- Parents need to be aware of the risks associated with sexual activity and the importance of addressing sexual risk reduction with their children at an early age. This component focuses on raising parents' awareness of adolescent sexual risk behaviors and of the critically important role parents can play in helping their children avoid such risks.
- Positive Parenting
- Parents should be supported in their efforts to build strong and positive relationships with their children in order to encourage ongoing discussions about sensitive issues like sexuality. Parents must understand the importance of adequately monitoring their children–especially as they become older and more independent–to reduce exposure to situations and peers likely to promote risky sexual behaviors. This component emphasizes parenting skills in the areas of relationship building, monitoring and supervision, communication, use of positive reinforcement, and dealing effectively with peer pressure.
- Sexual Communication
- Parents need knowledge, skills, comfort, and confidence to engage their children in meaningful, sensitive, and timely discussions about sex before they reach their teenage years. Therefore, this component focuses on increasing parents' self-efficacy regarding communication about sexual topics and provides skills specific to conveying their values to their children regarding sexual behavior.
Research shows that parents will attend programs to help keep their children healthy and safe.