What should we worry about most with our teens: drugs, driving, drinking or s*x? 🤔 (Hint: it’s not the s*x)In today’s episode of my On Health podcast my guest, Dr. Lisa Damour, author of The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, helps us understand how we can be our teens’ safety partner so they always have a safety net in any situation.Our goal is to help our teens know that they will never be in trouble for asking our help when they are in trouble. And it’s natural that they are going to push the envelope on safety because by their nature, many teenagers seek out novelty and excitement. It’s part of their neurological development.It’s also terrifying to know all at once our sweet babies have access to extremely dangerous things.Since we can’t lock our kids in the house until they’re say, 30 and have better executive function, what can we do?1. Be your child’s safest option - you’re not there to “bust” them, you’re there to catch them when they inevitably get in over their heads.2. Recognize the big safety issues that are culturally foisted on them: drugs, drinking, and unsafe driving. Support them to think through risks when they’re in a place to listen and reason, and reassure your child that you will never make them sorry that they asked for your help.3. Put s*x in a different category than drugs, drinking, and cars. Exploring s*x is part of normal and healthy development. Prepare your teens with information about safe s*x and contraception, and also these 4 questions:• What do I want?• What would feel good to me?• What does my partner want?• What is that person interested in?For more on this and other effective tools for raising teens - and staying sane while we’re doing it, make sure to check out On Health with Dr. Lisa Damour, at the link in bio and everywhere podcasts are available!#emotionallivesofteenagers #teenhealth #teenagers #moodyteens #healthyteens #onhealthpodcast @lisa.damour #parentingtools #parentingtips #drlisadamour | Aviva Romm, MD