Research Topic 1
Talking about sex with your children, especially mothers, is associated with safer sex practices/behavior among adolescents, finds research conducted at North Carolina State University. The team pooled data from 30 years of research with more than 25 000 adolescents from 52 studies on the effects of parent-adolescent communication on sexual behavior and contraceptive use. Findings showed that parent-adolescent sexual communication is a protective factor for youth, particularly among girls and those adolescents. In other words, adolescents, especially girls, who have discussed sexual topics, behaviors, safe practices with their mothers are sexually safer, less active, and more protective of their bodies in the long run (JAMA Pediatrics, online Nov. 2). The “sex talk” is not only important for typical children but also for non-typical children with any type of disability. Please set aside a time to discuss sex and hygiene with your children at several different stages in their life. They need the facts at their level of understanding.

Research Topic 2
Relationships play a critical role in keeping a mother happy and healthy, according to a study by Arizona State University psychologists. They asked more than 2,000 highly educated, upper-middle-class mothers to list the factors that helped them cope with motherhood. Four factors that stood out as main contributors to helping moms keep distress at bay were unconditional acceptance, feeling comforted when needed, authenticity in relationships and friendship satisfaction (Developmental Psychology, online Oct. 26). Therefore, it is important to maintain a typical schedule and routine with your friends after the children are born and grow. Mothers need a “mother’s day out,” girls trips, girls night out and regular attendance to clubs or functions. Children must acclimate into your world not you acclimating into their world by stopping all those activities and relationships that you love. It is not healthy for the mother or child to have a mother stressed, unhappy, or disconnected from others.

Susie Bean Gives Team