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Discussing AIDS with your children
By Wendy Simons

If you are like most parents, then discussing sexual transmitted diseases with your children is not really at the top of the list of comforting topics to talk about, especially when it comes to AIDS. However, it should not surprise you that kids are very much aware of this disease. They hear adults and teachers talk about it at school. Other children are also talking about AIDS back and forth with each other from what they hear of it. Television and radio are constantly promoting ads to help those people who have AIDS. Magazines and newspapers run articles and ads on the subject over and over again. Children know that AIDS can be very dangerous and that patients with this disease die. But because your children may not know exactly where AIDS comes from or how to get it, they are mystified by the disease, and perhaps very scared of it as well.

When you do decide to talk to your child about AIDS, you will have the difficult task of presenting factual and accurate information without making him unnecessarily frightened. Because children are not at all likely to get this disease, then you can reassure your child that he will not be exposed to AIDS.

Allow your child to ask as many questions as he can think of about AIDS. Listen closely to everything your son or daughter knows already about the subject. Of course some of your child's information that he tells you about this disease will be false, but it gives you a chance to set him straight with the facts about AIDS. In addition, some of the questions may be too complex for you to answer without doing some research on the matter. Regardless, open communication is the best possible way to ensure that your child is forming an accurate and realistic idea of what AIDS is all about.

Let your son or daughter know that not all viruses and diseases are the same. Explain to your children that AIDS is very difficult to contract. Respond by giving them details that you consider appropriate for your child's age level of maturity. For example, you my say "People who have the disease in their blood sometimes passes to other people's blood. Doctors have to check the blood in order to find out if a person has AIDS. And there are special things that people can do in order to never get this disease." If your child is old enough to know about sex then be sure to explain to them that AIDS is passed mainly through sex and also through drug users who use other people's needles.

By opening up the doors of communication with your son or daughter about AIDS, they will feel less concerned about the disease if they can freely discuss it with you. If your children do not mention in in their own free time, then you may want to bring it up as part of the general family discussions when it comes to safety, sex, growing up, etc. And this open communication will also help form a trusting bond for future subjects between child and parent that may otherwise be uncomfortable or taboo to discuss.

Author Details:
Wendy Simons, writes for a number of sites about health, beauty and cosmetic surgery, she also makes contributions to the A-Z of.com.

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