#TalkingIsPower: Families Talking Together is Powerful
"What I hear most often from the parents is thank you so much for this class because I wanted to talk to my children about pregnancy and sex, but I just didn't know how to, so I didn't say anything—but now I feel empowered".
We know from polling and research that parents (yes, including you, dads) are the biggest source of influence for young people when it comes to their decisions about sex, love, and relationships. Still, even when parents and trusted adults understand this, it can be uncomfortable to broach these conversations.
Families Talking Together (FTT) is an evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention curriculum that was developed to address this issue, specifically among Latino and African-American youth. It is designed to promote effective communication skills, build parent-adolescent relationships, help parents develop successful monitoring strategies, and teach adolescents assertiveness and refusal skills.
FTT is one of the three evidence-based curricula being used by the North Texas Alliance to Reduce Teen Pregnancy (NTARUPT), to educate both parents and teens on the "how" and the "why" of not becoming a teen parent. The powerful quote above is feedback one NTRUPT educator received from families who have participated in the FTT curriculum. It's no surprise to learn that parents echo the sentiment that #TalkingisPower.
Check out NTARUPT and the impact this program is having on participants in this video.
Not every community is fortunate to have evidence-based programs like FTT to improve familial communication about sex and relationships around these subjects (and unfortunately the federal funding that NTRUPT receives from the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program is scheduled to end soon—as the program was recently upended by the Trump Administration—check back for Part II which will further explore this topic). This is just one of the many reasons we are asking champions like you to start early and talk often. But we aren't asking you to go it alone. Check out our videos with moms and dads, and our champion guide to help you jumpstart these meaningful conversations with the young people in your life.
