Let's talk about sex: Campaign advocates family conversations about sex and offers tips for parents to approach the issue

Commercials associated with a new campaign are aimed at helping parents talk to their children about waiting until marriage to have sex.

The Department of Health and Human Services introduced the Parents Speak Up National Campaign in June and, in addition to a Web site with tips and information for parents, a public service announcement campaign will start in September.

"The campaign is a tool for parents to be able to talk to their kids about ways to delay sexual activity," said Rebecca Ayer, a spokesperson for the department of health and human services.

Michelle Thomas, a mother of four from Cape Girardeau, said she had no problem talking to her children about sex. She knew if she did not tell them, someone else would.

"Kids are learning all kinds of false things on the street," Thomas said. She began talking to her oldest daughter at age 11.

"It has really been a blessing because she understands, and she looks at sex in a more mature way," Thomas said of her now 20-year-old daughter. "She doesn't think it is something frivolous."

Thomas said she was thorough with her talks, fielding deep questions and encouraging conversation.

"I started explaining to them about their bodies and how babies come along," Thomas said. "What they would be doing with a man and what a man would be doing with a woman once they get old enough to handle that responsibility."

The campaign, which will receive $8.5 million a year, includes television, radio and print public service announcements and a Web site giving parents tips to help initiate the talk with their children.

It has received a commitment to run for two years but could last as long as three.

Some of the television announcements are aimed at general audiences, while others are geared mainly toward black and Hispanic audiences. The advertisements feature children on bikes and in skate parks telling parents, "We need to talk."

The actors in the commercials seem young, but they are targeted at parents of children ages 10 to 13.

Thomas said she agreed that parents need to understand that children are thinking about sex at early ages and they need facts.

"There no sense in us parents acting like we're in the dark," she said.

The Cape Girardeau County Health Department and the University of Missouri Extension office co-host an abstinence-only program called Postponing Sexual Involvement, which trains high school students to be teen leaders who go into elementary schools or middle schools to talk to other students.

"It is not sex education at all," Jane Wernsman, assistant director at the health department, said. Teens talk to younger students about self-esteem, making good choices and peer pressure.

"The younger kids are a little bit more receptive to information from what they consider to be peers or teens," Wernsman said.

The program attempts to supply the tools to encourage parents who might be worried about how to have conversations with their children.

charris@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246