Parenting Through the Awkward Stuff

There are moments in parenting that make you feel like you’ve got it together.

This is not one of those moments.

Talking to your kids about sex is one of the most awkward, sweat-inducing, anxiety-loaded milestones of parenting—and we all try to avoid it. We tell ourselves they’re not ready. That we’ll do it later. That they already learned it in school.

But let’s be honest.

Most of us didn’t get “The Talk” ourselves. We got fragments. Warnings. Maybe a weird school video from the '90s with bad lighting and worse metaphors. Or worse—we got silence. And we were left to figure it out through friends, media, and uncomfortable trial-and-error.

So now it’s on us. And surprise: no one left us a manual either.

“I’ll Do It When I’m Ready” (Spoiler: You Won’t Be)

The truth is, you’re never really ready to talk about this stuff. Not completely.

You’ll overthink the timing. You’ll wonder what to say, what not to say, and if your kid is going to stare at you like you just started reciting tax code. You’ll replay the conversation in your head for days afterward, wondering if you messed it up.

You probably will.

And that’s okay.

The win isn’t saying everything perfectly. The win is showing up. It’s having the conversation at all. It’s letting your kid know you’re a safe place—even for the weird, messy, uncomfortable stuff.

The Goal Isn’t Perfection—It’s Presence

Look, you don’t need to give a TED Talk. You don’t need slides. You don’t need to say all the right things.

You just need to be there. Be honest. Be awkward, if that’s what it takes. And most importantly—be open.

Because if you’re waiting to feel ready, you never will.

But your kid? They’re watching. They’re learning. And even if they cringe in the moment, what they’ll remember later isn’t the specific words. They’ll remember that you tried. That you were brave enough to say the weird stuff out loud.

You’re Breaking the Cycle Just by Showing Up

If no one had these talks with you, then this moment isn’t just about your kid—it’s about you.

You’re doing something new.

You’re saying, “We don’t do silence anymore.” 

You’re saying, “We don’t let shame do the teaching.” 

You’re saying, “I’ll probably mess this up… but I’ll do it anyway.”

That’s brave.

That’s parenting.

That’s enough.