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Mom, when did you...?

Friday, April 27 2007 by | Send to a friend

"Mom, when did you…"

Annie and Ericka Lutz

A Congressional study shows that teens who are presently sexually active reported having sex for the first time when they were about 15 years old.

Ericka Lutz is the Senior Editor of the online magazine Literary Mama. Her daughter, Annie, is just months away from turning 15. After Annie's 8th grade sex education class, she had a question that only her mother could answer. Over dinner, Annie asked her mother: "How old were you when you first had sex?"

Annie stammered through her question. Ericka then took a deep breath, finished her daughter's question, and answered it, truthfully.

Dick Gordon talks to Ericka about why she decided to share the story of her first sexual experience with her daughter. Annie also tells Dick why it's so important for her to be able to talk to her mother about sex.

Some questions I'll answer now, others when she's older. But a few questions, like those about my sex life with her father, will always be off limits.
-Ericka

Don't wait for your kid to ask you [about sex]…answer them before they ask. That will kind of encourage them to talk to you.
-Annie

• Read Ericka's Column, Truth. Parenting. Sex. Ouch.
• Learn more about Annie's Sex Ed class
• Visit Ericka Lutz's website
• Find out what you know about kids and sex

Music heard in this story: Teach Your Children BY Pickin' On Series for the album Pickin' On CSNY

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Operation Kid Comfort

Ann Flaherty with one of her quilts

At the beginning of 2003, Ann Flaherty was facing the prospect of 3 members of her family being deployed overseas. Her daughter was in North Korea, and both her son and son-in-law were heading to Iraq. 

To make things worse, her 18-month old grandson, Christian, was throwing tantrums over his father's absence, even taking photos of his father and hiding them under his crib. 

Ann is a quilt artist so she made her grandson a quilt with pictures of his dad. Then she made one for a friend of Christian's whose parents were serving overseas. That was the beginning of Operation Kid Comfort, which has now provided nearly 5,000 free photo quilts and pillows to children whose military parents are deployed outside the country.    

• See Christian's quilt
• Learn more about Operation Kid Comfort

Other music heard in this program: Birds and Bees (Reprise)by Patrick & Eugene for the album Postcard from Summerisle