In my review of Kate Ott’s new book about talking about sex and faith with your children, I mistakenly identified her as a Methodist. Although she has served as a Methodist youth and family minister and is currently a professor at a Methodist Institution, she still identifies as Catholic, albeit a feminist, ecumenical Catholic.

SEX + FAITH: TALKING WITH YOUR CHILD FROM BIRTH TO ADOLESCENCE
By Kate Ott
Published by Westminster John Knox Press, 2013

Almost everything I know about parenting I learned from my sister. She and her husband are not the perfect parents (who is?), but their three happy, healthy teen and young adult children are living evidence of their parenting success.

My sister has read a number of parenting books that have informed her beliefs and practices. Although she hasn’t read Sex + Faith: Talking with Your Child from Birth to Adolescence, the advice from author Kate Ott is pretty much what my sister has being doing all these years.

Talk to your children openly and honestly, using appropriate terms, even if it makes you uncomfortable. Start when they’re very young. Teach that our bodies are good and God-given. Send a positive message about sexuality, not just a list of “thou shalt nots.” Most importantly, connect conversations about sexuality with conversations about faith.

Easier said than done.

Read my entire review from the April 25, 2013 issue of National Catholic Reporter here. It ran under the headline: “Author helps make ‘the talk ‘a continuing conversation.”