Our generation was supposed to have sex all figured out. We knew it was healthy. We were too cool to ever get flustered. Then we had kids. And when those kids showed up with sexual ambitions of their own, suddenly we didn’t feel so cool anymore. In fact, the confusion, fear, and (let’s face it) outright panic we felt the moment our five-year-olds started asking, “Mommy, do you like to rub your wiener, too?” might have done our own parents proud.

Well, understanding kids’ sexuality doesn’t have to be an angst-ridden enterprise. With confidence, wisdom, and humor, Dr. Justin Richardson, a psychiatrist and noted consultant on youth and sex, and Dr. Mark A. Schuster, a pediatrician and leading researcher on parenting strategies and adolescent sexuality, help us regain our equilibrium with this remarkable book.

Smart, frank, and occasionally hilarious, this comprehensive guide offers practical and often surprising answers to the questions that bedevil parents at every stage in their children’s coming-of-age. What do you say when your four-year-old daughter walks in on you having sex? What about when you walk in on her and the girl next door finger painting each other’s bottoms? What, exactly, should you tell your third-grader about sex, and if he says, “That’s gross!” does that mean you’ve said too much? And what about teenagers? Should you buy your son condoms? Should you try to prevent your daughter from having sex? Does telling her to wait actually work? Drs. Richardson and Schuster tackle these and countless other crucial challenges you’re likely to face in the first twenty or so years of your children’s lives.

Packed with the latest research on parenting techniques and childhood sexuality and filled with helpful stories from real parents about what worked (and what didn’t) with their kids, this authoritative volume offers advice and comfort to anyone who is hoping to have a productive dialogue with young people about sex. Whether your focus is on protecting your teens from STDs or raising your little ones to understand their bodies, Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid They’d Ask) is an indispensable resource that is sure to leave you educated, entertained, and relieved.

“This ‘survival guide’ should be required reading…”
- Publisher’s Weekly, February 2003

(Read more reviews here)

Jacket design: Laura duffy
Jacket photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images