National PTA President's Letter
March, 2002

Parents Still Best to Educate Children About Sex

Young people today live in a complex and changing world that often exposes them to significant health risks. For many years, National PTA has encouraged teaching our kids responsible behavior surrounding such topics as sexuality and HIV/AIDS before they reach puberty, in an effort to decrease teen pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Despite the fact that sexual images and conversation seem to be rampant-in the movies, on television, in advertising-children and youth today don’t have much better information about sexuality than their parents did. In an age when more than half of girls and nearly three-fourths of boys have sex before the age of 18, our sons and daughters need to learn how to make responsible choices and protect themselves.

To address this issue, National PTA and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation have joined together to provide information and foster informed discussion on sex education in our nation’s schools. Factual materials have been developed for state and local PTA leaders to use to help parents become informed about and involved in their children’s sex education. Talking With Kids: A Parents Guide to Sex Education and A PTA Leader’s Guide to Sex Education are being distributed to PTAs this spring. The information contained in each of these pieces can serve as a valuable tool as you make decisions about how to best safeguard the health and well-being of our nation’s young people.

It is our responsibility-as parents and as PTA leaders-to ensure that the children and youth across this country receive the best information possible about these very important topics of sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases for their health, safety, and happiness.

Shirley Igo
President, National PTA