(For Parents of Children with Typical Development)

Note: In addition to resources for parents, you will also find that we have included resources for children here. Before you pass along any of these resources to your child, we strongly suggest that you check them out first. We may think that a particular website or book is a great resource for children, but that doesn't mean you have to agree. Choose materials that reflect your values and the messages you want your child to receive.

Online

For Parents of Young Children

Parents’ Sex Ed Center at Advocates for Youth

For Parents at KidsHealth

Resources for Parents at Rutgers

For Parents of Pre-Teens

Tools for Parents at Planned Parenthood

Parents’ Sex Ed Center at Advocates for Youth

For Parents at KidsHealth

Resources for Parents at Rutgers

For Parents of Teens

Tools for Parents at Planned Parenthood

Parents’ Sex Ed Center at Advocates for Youth

For Parents at KidsHealth

Resources for Parents at Rutgers

For Parents at The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy

Resources for Parents at The Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health

PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)

For Parents at Talk with your Kids

For Parents at Teaching Sexual Health

There’s No Place Like Home… for Sex Education from Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon

SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States)

Guttmacher Institute

For Teens

Scarleteen: Sex Ed for the Real World
Scarleteen is the most popular sex education and sexuality advice website for teens and young adults.

Info for Teens at Planned Parenthood

Sexual and Reproductive Health at Go Ask Alice!

It Gets Better Project for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning youth who can't imagine a future for themselves.

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In Print

For Parents of Young Children

But How’d I Get There in the First Place? Talking to Your Young Child About Sex, Deborah Roffman, Perseus Publishing, 2002

When Sex Is the Subject: Attitudes and Answers for Young Children, Pamela Wilson, Network Publications, 1991

Talking to Your Kids About Sex: A Go Parents! Guide, Lauri Berkenkamp and Steven C. Atkins, Nomad Press, 2002

Raising a Child Conservatively in a Sexually Permissive World, Sol Gordon and Judith Gordon, Adams Media Corporation, 1999

Your Daughter's Bedroom: Insights for Raising Confident Women, Joyce T. McFadden, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011

For Young Children

Anatomy

Amazing You: Getting Smart About Your Private Parts, Gail Saltz, Puffin, 2008

Bellybuttons Are Navels, Mark Schoen, BookSurge Publishing, 2008

The Bare Naked Book, Kathy Stinson, Annick Press, 2006

Who Has What?: All About Girls’ Bodies and Boys’ Bodies, Robie H. Harris, Candlewick, 2011

Birth and Babies

It’s Not the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families and Friends, Robie H. Harris, Candlewick, 2008

It’s So Amazing!: A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies and Families, Robie H. Harris, Candlewick, 2004

Where Did I Come From?: A Guide for Children and Parents, African-American Edition, Peter Mayle, Lyle Stuart, 2000

Before You Were Born: A Lift-the-Flap Book, Jennifer Davis, Workman Publishing Company, 1998

How Babies and Families Are Made: There Is More Than One Way!, Patricia Schaffer, Tabor Sarah Books, 1988

Hi New Baby!, Robie H. Harris, Candlewick, 2003

Families

And Tango Makes Three, Justin Richardson, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2005

Adoption Is for Always, Linda Walvoord Girard, Albert Whitman & Company, 1986

Charlie Anderson, Barbara Abercrombie, Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1995

Free to Be a Family, Marlo Thomas & Friends, Bdd Promotional Book Co., 1992

Asha’s Mums, Rosamund Elwin and Michele Paulse, Women’s Press (UK), 2000

All Families Are Different, Sol Gordon, Prometheus Books, 2000

Gender Roles

In Christina's Toolbox/En la Caja de Herramientas de Cristina, Dianne Homan, Lollipop Power Inc., 1994

William’s Doll, Charlotte Zolotow, Perfection Learning, 1985

Oliver Button Is a Sissy, Tomie dePaola, Sandpiper, 1979

The Sissy Duckling, Harvey Fierstein, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2005

The Story of Ferdinand, Munro Leaf, Viking Juvenile, 2011

Sexual Abuse

It’s My Body: A Book to Teach Young Children How to Resist Uncomfortable Touch, Lory Freeman, Parenting Press, 1984

Loving Touches: A Book for Children About Positive, Caring Kinds of Touching, Lory Freeman, Parenting Press, 1985

I'm Happy Sad Together: A Book to Help Young Children Understand Complex Feelings, Lory Britain (formerly Lory Freeman), CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012

Something Must Be Wrong with Me: A Boy’s Book about Sexual Abuse, Doris Sanford, Multnomah Books, 1993

My Body Is Private, Linda Walvoord Girard, Albert Whitman & Company, 1984

Alice Doesn’t Babysit Anymore, Kevin B. McGovern, Alternatives to Sexual Abuse, 1985

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For Parents of Pre-Teens

Parent/Teen Breakthrough: The Relationship Approach, Mira Kirshenbaum and Charles Foster, Plume Books, 1994. This book is not about sexuality; it’s about parent-teen relationships, and somehow, inexplicably, it never became the bible of parents everywhere. Get this book!

Talking to Your Kids About Sex: A Go Parents! Guide, Lauri Berkenkamp and Steven C. Atkins, Nomad Press, 2002

Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid They’d Ask): The Secret to Surviving Your Child’s Sexual Development from Birth to the Teens, Justin Richardson and Mark Schuster, Three Rivers Press, 2004

Sex and Sensibility: The Thinking Parent’s Guide to Talking Sense About Sex, Deborah M. Roffman, Da Capo Press, 2001

From Diapers to Dating: A Parent's Guide to Raising Sexually Healthy Children From Infancy to Middle School, Debra W. Haffner, William Morrow Paperbacks, 2008

Your Daughter's Bedroom: Insights for Raising Confident Women, Joyce T. McFadden, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011

For Pre-Teens

The “What's Happening to My Body?” Book for Girls, Lynda Madaras with Area Madaras, William Morrow, 2007. Got a daughter? Get her this book – preferably before she hits puberty.

The “What's Happening to My Body?” Book for Boys, Lynda Madaras with Area Madaras, William Morrow, 2007. Got a son? Get him this book – preferably before he hits puberty.

Let’s Talk About Sex: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex & Sexual Health, Robie H. Harris, Walker Childrens Paperbacks, 2010

It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health, Robie H. Harris, Candlewick, 2009

It’s So Amazing!: A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies and Families, Robie H. Harris, Candlewick, 2004

The Amazing Life of Birds: The Twenty-Day Puberty Journal of Duane Homer Leech, Gary Paulsen, Yearling, 2008

What’s Going on Down There?: Answers to Questions Boys Find Hard to Ask, Karen Gravelle with Nick and Chava Castro, Walker Children’s, 1998

The Period Book: Everything You Don’t Want to Ask (But Need to Know), Karen Gravelle and Jennifer Gravelle, Walker Children’s, 2006

Growing Up: It’s a Girl Thing, Mavis Jukes, Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1998

“What’s Happening to Me?” A Guide to Puberty, Peter Mayle, Lyle Stuart, 2000

The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls, American Girl Library, Pleasant Company Publications, 1998

Period.: A Girl’s Guide, Joanne Loulan and Bonnie Worthen, The Book Peddlers, 2001

Hair in Funny Places, Babette Cole, Hyperion, 2000

The Guy Book: An Owner’s Manual, Mavis Jukes, Crown Books for Young Readers, 2002

Let’s Talk About S-E-X: A Guide for Kids 9 to 12 and Their Parents, Sam Gitchel and Lorri Foster, The Book Peddlers, 2005

What’s the Big Secret?: Talking about Sex with Girls and Boys, Laurie Krasny Brown, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2000

Girl Stuff: A Survival Guide to Growing Up, Margaret Blackstone and Elissa Haden Guest, Sandpiper, 2006

Puberty Girl, Shushann Movsessian, Allen & Unwin, 2005

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For Parents of Teens

Parent/Teen Breakthrough: The Relationship Approach, Mira Kirshenbaum and Charles Foster, Plume Books, 1994. This book is not about sexuality; it’s about parent-teen relationships, and somehow, inexplicably, it never became the bible of parents everywhere. Get this book!

How to Talk with Teens About Love, Relationships, & S-E-X, Amy G. Miron and Charles D. Miron, Free Spirit Publishing, 2001

Sex and Sensibility: The Thinking Parent’s Guide to Talking Sense About Sex, Deborah M. Roffman, Da Capo Press, 2001

Staying Connected to Your Teenager: How to Keep Them Talking to You and How to Hear What They're Really Saying, Michael Riera, Da Capo Press, 2003

The Real Truth About Teens and Sex: From Hooking Up to Friends with Benefits – What Teens Are Thinking, Doing, and Talking About, and How to Help Them Make Smart Choices, Sabrina Weill, Perigee Trade, 2006

From Diapers to Dating: A Parent's Guide to Raising Sexually Healthy Children From Infancy to Middle School, Debra W. Haffner, William Morrow Paperbacks, 2008

Beyond the Big Talk: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Sexually Healthy Teens – From Middle School to High School and Beyond, Debra W. Haffner, William Morrow Paperbacks, 2008

All About Sex: A Family Resource on Sex and Sexuality, Planned Parenthood, Three Rivers Press, 1997

The Wonder of Boys: What Parents, Mentors and Educators Can Do to Shape Boys into Exceptional Men, Michael Gurian, Tarcher, 2006

The Seven-Year Stretch: How Families Work Together to Grow Through Adolescence, Laura S. Kastner and Jennifer F. Wyatt, Houghton Mifflin, 1997

Ten Talks Parents Must Have With Their Children about Sex and Character, by Pepper Schwartz and Dominic Cappello, Hyperion, 2000

Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth – and Their Allies, Ellen Bass and Kate Kaufman, Harper Perennial, 1996

Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers’ Schemes, Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown, St. Martin’s Press, 2006

Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood, William Pollack, Owl Books, 1999

Your Daughter's Bedroom: Insights for Raising Confident Women, Joyce T. McFadden, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011

For Teens

The “What's Happening to My Body?” Book for Girls, Lynda Madaras with Area Madaras, William Morrow, 2007. Got a daughter? Get her this book – preferably before she hits puberty.

The “What's Happening to My Body?” Book for Boys, Lynda Madaras with Area Madaras, William Morrow, 2007. Got a son? Get him this book – preferably before he hits puberty.

S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-to-Know Progressive Sexuality Guide to Get You Through High School and College, Heather Corinna, Da Capo Press, 2007

Changing Bodies, Changing Lives, Ruth Bell, Three Rivers Press, 1998

It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health, Robie H. Harris, Candlewick, 2009

Deal with It! A Whole New Approach to Your Body, Brain, and Life as a gURL, Esther Drill, Heather McDonald, and Rebecca Odes, Gallery Books, 1999

The Guy Book: An Owner’s Manual, Mavis Jukes, Crown Books for Young Readers, 2002

GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Queer & Questioning Teens, Kelly Huegel, Free Spirit Publishing, 2003

The Real Truth About Teens and Sex: From Hooking Up to Friends with Benefits – What Teens Are Thinking, Doing, and Talking About, and How to Help Them Make Smart Choices, Sabrina Weill, Perigee Trade, 2006

The Underground Guide to Teenage Sexuality, Michael J. Basso, Fairview Press, 2003

Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth – and Their Allies, Ellen Bass and Kate Kaufman, Harper Perennial, 1996

Sexual Decisions: The Ultimate Teen Guide, L. Kris Gowen, Scarecrow Press, 2007

 

Compiled from Resources for Parents at Rutgers and many other sources.

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