Teaching a Child About AIDS

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Dr. David Hill, and today we're going to talk about teaching your child about AIDS. Now that opens up the whole question about, how do you talk about sex, since AIDS is most commonly transmitted by sexual contact. And that starts as soon as your child starts asking questions, like, where do babies come from or what is this on my body, or why don't I have that. You want to answer those questions frankly when they come up. Don't answer anymore than the child asks, but give them the details they want, use proper anatomical terms so that they learn to talk about these things normally. As your child gets older their questions are going to become more complicated. And it's really good by age 11 or 12 that your child understand an awful lot of accurate information about where babies come from and therefore where sexual transmitted diseases come from. Be honest that people do sometimes have sex even in situations where it's undesirable. Talk about the ways that they can protect themselves, specifically using a condom every time sexual intercourse is engaged in. And be sure to remind them that the fewer sexual partners you have and the longer you know your partners, the more you should be able to trust them and the better you can work through all difficult issues in the relationship. Be honest that AIDS does kill people. And you can let them know as they get older and learn about drugs, about needle transmissions and other blood born contacts that might cause HIV. But the key is to make sure that you have an open, honest and un-embarrassed discussion with your child about adult sexual relations at a developmental level that's appropriate for them. We know that that type of conversation will protect them from early pregnancy, early sexual experience and most importantly, deadly sexually transmitted diseases. I'm David Hill."