If you’ve ever tried to tell your six-year-old how babies are made or your fourteen-year-old how condoms work, you know that grappling with telling your kids about sex can be a sweat-drenched exercise. But it doesn’t have to be. Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid They’d Ask) is a one-of-a-kind survival guide that will help you stay sane through every stage of your child’s sexual development. After interviewing scores of parents and analyzing decades of scientific research, two nationally respected, Harvard-trained physicians share their expertise in this brilliantly insightful, practical, and hilarious book that has fast become the leading resource for parents of toddlers to teens. This indispensable guide covers all the bases, including:

• What to expect at each stage of your child’s development and how you can influence it from birth onward
• What to tell your kids at every age about sex and how to get the conversation going
• What to do when your five-year-old turns up naked with the girl next door, your toddler is rubbing on her teddy bear, or your six-year-old walks in on you having sex
• How to avoid unnecessary clashes with your middle-schooler while managing privacy, crushes, and what to wear
• How to encourage your teenager to use contraception without encouraging her to have sex, and how to help her choose the method that’s best for her “A wonderfully sophisticated set of answers to the questions that make even the most confident of parents squirm! These two experts have crafted the essential guide to managing the vast array of challenges involving kids and sex. Simultaneously wise and funny, this highly accessible book will help parents safely through what might otherwise seem like a thicket of anxiety and confusion. A must-read for every thoughtful and caring parent.”
—William Pollack, author of Real Boys and codirector of the Center for Men at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical Center
 
“A comprehensive and factual resource on a very delicate subject presented in a humorous and entertaining style. The authors cover all the bases, but do so with a light and sensitive touch. I would not hesitate to recommend this book to the parents of my patients.”
—Joe M. Sanders, M.D., executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics

“I wished I had asked these questions. A sensitive and intelligent look at sexuality written with candor and creativity, this book will open the discussion for all the important issues.” —Wendy Wasserstein, author of Shiksa Goddess and The Heidi Chronicles

“In their warm, non-judgmental way, Justin Richardson and Mark Schuster guide us through our children's sexual development with the perfect mix of humor, wisdom, and straightforward information. I highly recommend this book for every parent.”
—Ruth Bell, coauthor of Changing Bodies, Changing Lives