The Talks: A Parent's Guide to Critical Conversations about Sex, Dating, and Other Unmentionables

by Barrett Johnson

Every parent fears having “the talk.” But what many fail to realize is that one conversation isn’t enough. Your kids need so much more! The home must become a place where your family can talk comfortably and honestly about sex and relationships. The Talks will help you to… *Focus on 15 conversations that every family must have about sex and dating. *Lay the right foundation on critical issues with your younger children. *Develop a practical approach to opposite sex relationships for teens. *Find healing from your own past so you can help your kids make wise choices. If you remain passive on these issues, your kids will likely assimilate into a sexually-charged culture that is severely broken…and their eventual marriages will suffer. But wise parents will start having these conversations sooner, more often, and in more detail than most people have ever considered. The Talks will show you how.

Genres: Parenting, Christian, Nonfiction

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 5, 2014

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear parent, this book is for you. It’s hard prioritize reading about, and even harder to put into practice, but following God’s instruction for our lives and our children’s is an investment opportunity that happens once a lifetime. Put this at the top of your to read list and read it.

[Laura Brownstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fantastic. It has such good information and encouragement. I will definitely recommend it! The only things I had trouble with were the two different Bible stories used towards the end to illustrate some points. I think the story of Tamar and Amnon was very poorly used to illustrate advice on teaching your teens about red flags. I do not think Tamar could have done anything about those red flags even if she had noticed them. The other story used was about Absolom and his ability to win the hearts of the Israelites in relation to winning your children's hearts. I think Absolom was a very poor example to use and these points could have been made with no Bible story. Perhaps, using stories of Jesus and his care and love for his disciples could have been included instead.

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a great book. I have a few girls in my house. I want to be able to talk with them and get them ready for things in the world. This is helpful. I enjoyed a few of the chapters a lot. I read it slowly so that I could start conversations from each chapter with my kids and didn’t feel rushed through it. I usually like to quickly read a book and be down with it and move on to the next one.

[Christin Stegman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gained valuable insight from “The Talks,” despite the fact that I wonder if the cited research is debunked in the book “She Deserves Better.” I still underlined multiple sections of “The Talks” and will carry some of its wisdom into my parenting.

[Kristen Donham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for anyone who has children. Such a good Christian based book that covers all topics regarding sexuality while pointing us back to Scripture. So good!!!

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kids today are exposed to things much younger than they used to be, and much more easily. We as parents are naive to think they won't hear about sex until we're ready to have The Talk. Society, movies, social media is bombarding our kids with their take on what sex ought to be about; we have to counteract that and get these topics out in the open in our homes and families. One "birds and bees" talk just doesn't cut it; this book gives practical advice on WHEN to talk to your kids about sex, suggests ideas of WHAT specific topics to cover, and HOW to talk to them about it. Whether your kids are preschoolers or teens, this is a must read for every parent who wants to help their kids navigate this sex-saturated world we live in and help them make good choices to prepare them for a solid God-honoring marriage someday.

[Kristjan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful in sorting through the topics that need to be covered in The Talks. Biblically sound as well.

I do have a few quibbles with it (which drop it down to 4 stars). The author completely ignores the existence of homeschooling, which is strange since homeschooling is growing among his target audience. This slightly diminishes the applicability of the book for my family. Also, the author sort of puts down "courtship", and then proceeds to describe his suggestions for how to do "dating". What the author describes sounds a lot like my idea of courtship. Perhaps he didn't feel he could be seen endorsing something with such an old-fashioned name.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been researching how to talk to my kids about sensitive but super important subject like pornography and came across this Christian based book and I feel it has given me lots of good information.