Teachable Moments

You may have heard the term “teachable moment” used. Maybe someone was telling you to take advantage of teachable moments. But do you know what they are?

A teachable moment is a situation that opens the door for you to talk to your child or any other young person about subjects that are difficult but necessary to discuss. These difficult conversation topics may include sexuality, alcohol and drug use, smoking, violence, eating disorders and depression.

As a parent or guardian you need to be on the lookout for teachable moments. They make initiating conversation about these topics easier and more comfortable for you and the child. Media outlets are the best resource for teachable moments. The newspaper, television, billboards, radio, magazines, movies and advertisements of all kinds are great places to start. Perhaps a storyline on a television show is about sexual activity or a magazine ad has a cartoon that makes smoking look fun. These are great opportunities to discuss your values about these topics with your child. Sometimes a discussion can be initiated from something more subtle like an outfit a star is wearing and how that portrays sexuality. Be creative! Don’t just limit your teachable moments to the media you are interested in, take some time to understand what interests your child. Read your children’s magazines and watch their television shows with them. These images, storylines and ads are what they are absorbing all of the time. Remember, this should be a conversation and not a lecture. Kids will be more responsive if you solicit their opinions and then talk it out.

Having trouble getting started? Here are some ideas for the first step:

  • “I think that girl on TV is too young to be having sex what do you think?”
  • “That ad shows a bunch of guys drinking beer and a bunch of ladies in bikinis, what do you think that is portraying?”
  • “I don’t think that those two people are in love, but they’re having sex anyway.”
  • “I don’t like this song because the lyrics are so rude. Have you ever listened to what they say?”
  • “That outfit is inappropriate for that event, what do you think?”

Campaign For Our Children can help. CFOC creates teachable moments by making ads, which bring up the issues of sexuality, teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. One of our billboards or television spots could potentially start a lot of conversations! Check out our catalog to see if there’s anything that you’d like to use in your community.