theChat.scot

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Talking about how adults plan and prevent a pregnancy (contraception and condoms)

If you have been having chats about how human life begins, or how people have sex, your child may have questions about how adults plan or prevent pregnancies. They might also be aware of a parent or sibling using contraception or hear chats with older brothers and sisters about the topic. Some factual information can help. If you provide brief information at this age, then this is something you can build on in the later teenage years when you want your child to understand more about contraception.

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Talking about contraception

So, we have chatted about when a woman and a man have sex this might mean that the woman gets pregnant. If this is something that the adults want, then that’s great. But maybe they don’t want to have a baby.

You might want to chat about the question: Can you think of any reasons why adults might not want to have a baby?

If adults don’t want to have a baby at the moment, then they can use what’s called contraception.

In the information that follows you may want to personalise to some extent – if as a parent you use oral contraceptives, and your child has seen you take these then you can acknowledge what they are. Or perhaps they have heard about an older sibling using other methods, with their permission it might be helpful to talk about that.

There are lots of different kinds of contraception a woman can use. A woman can take a pill, have an injection or have a little implant put just under the skin on her arm. All these things are a medicine that stop the woman from becoming pregnant.

There is only one type of contraception a man can use. It is called a condom. A man fits the condom over his penis when it is erect. During sex, his sperm comes out when he ejaculates. The sperm collects in the condom instead of going into the woman’s vagina. So, the sperm cannot meet the egg.

There is also a condom for women. An internal condom fits inside the woman’s vagina. During sex, the man’s sperm comes out when he ejaculates. The sperm collects in the condom. So, the sperm cannot meet the egg.

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Books

You might like to read these books together. Your school or library might have them, or you can ask the library if they will order a book for you.

Text describes exactly what takes place in the body at the time of puberty. It contains sections on sex and contraception, food, exercise, hygiene and drugs and other problems both physical and emotional.

This book gives the facts – biological and psychological – of sex, including sections on the body, families and babies, and sexual health.

A book on sex, sexuality, bodies, and puberty.