Last week I was watching the popular TV show The Middle, and parents Mike and Frankie Heck were struggling to remember if they’d ever spoken to their kids about sex. “That’s what schools are for,” Frankie, the mom joked.
Yikes! The good news is, unlike in the show, 90 percent of parents have talked to their children about topics related to sex, according to a Planned Parenthood nationally representative poll of more than 2,000 parents and teens. The survey also found that parents want help from schools getting these important messages across to young people, and that teens would also like some more guidance in learning about sex. The vast majority of parents (94 percent) and teens (88 percent) said it’s important that sex education be taught in middle schools, and of 96 percent of parents and 93 percent of teens reported that it’s important that high schools teach sex education.
And it’s not just parents who believe in the importance of sex education in schools. More than 140 organizations support comprehensive sex education, including the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics, both of which recommend that schools implement comprehensive, developmentally appropriate sexuality education programs.