New booklet helps parents talk to their children about relationship issues

A new booklet gives a young person's take on the best way for parents to discuss sex and relationship issues with them. 

Derbyshire County Council is a member of the Derbyshire Teenage Pregnancy Partnership which is working to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies in the county.

And it has created the booklet - called Talking to Your Teenager About Sex and Relationships - with help from teenagers at Fairfield Youth Centre in Buxton and the The Baby Spirit Group at the Peter Webster Centre in Chesterfield.

They were asked how they would like their parents to talk to them about relationship issues.

And their feedback guided the booklet which suggests appropriate ways for parents and carers to talk to their teenagers about sex and relationships.

Councillor Tracy Critchlow, Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Young People, said: "It isn't always easy for parents to know how to talk to their children about issues surrounding sex and relationships.
"This booklet is a great help because it helps parents speak to young people in a way that they would like them to.

"It is part of our hard work with partners across the county to improve access to sexual health services,  education in schools about relationship issues, and supporting parents to talk to their children about relationships."
Ten thousand copies of the booklet have been made available to parents through the county council's children's centres, libraries and GP surgeries.

The booklet ties in with the new national ‘Sex. Worth talking about' campaign.

And the Government's Teenage Pregnancy Unit is holding it up as an example of good practice to other regions.

The Derbyshire Teenage Pregnancy Partnership was created when the Government set a national target to halve teenage conception rates after a study found that the UK had the highest number of teenage pregnancies in Western Europe.

The partnership includes the county council, district councils, Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust, Connexions, NHS Tameside and Glossop, schools and Derbyshire Youth Council members.
Latest figures show that the number of 15-17 year olds getting pregnant in Derbyshire in 2008 was 485 - an 11 per cent reduction on the previous year.

* Talking to Your Teenager About Sex and Relationships can be downloaded from www.derbyshire.gov.uk/teenagepregnancy  (opens in a new window)

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