July 17, 2025
Before becoming a parent, I thought parent engagement mostly meant helping with homework or attending sporting events and school concerts. When I started my career in adolescent sexual and reproductive health and began having conversations with young people about bodies, boundaries, and relationships, I started to understand just how crucial parent engagement is, especially in comprehensive sex ed.
Now that I’m responsible for two little humans, what once felt like an uncomfortable or distant topic now feels deeply important, not just for my children’s safety and well-being but for their confidence, values, and understanding of the world. I’ve come to see that active parent and family involvement is a significant part of the not-so-secret recipe that makes comprehensive sex ed work.
Parent engagement in comprehensive sex education holds powerful benefits—not just for families, but for schools and community programs as well.
Parent engagement in comprehensive sex education holds powerful benefits—not just for families, but for schools and community programs as well. For parents, being involved opens opportunities for meaningful conversations at home, building trust, and strengthening the parent-child relationship. It also invites more open communication among parents, teachers, and school administration.
Engaged parents are more likely to understand and support comprehensive sex ed programs in their child’s school, and their input can even help tailor programs to better reflect the needs of the community. Community programs implementing comprehensive sex ed programs benefit, too, by being able to reinforce key messages and skills in a consistent, culturally responsive way—especially when they can collaborate with families and schools. When all three—parents, schools, and youth programs—work together, young people receive a more cohesive, supportive, and impactful learning experience that extends far beyond the classroom.
We can successfully engage parents in comprehensive sex education when we implement thoughtful, inclusive, and culturally responsive strategies. The WISE Initiative outlines effective strategies in the Best Practices for Family Engagement tool kit, a few of which I’ve summarized below.
Invite parents into every stage of the process
Solicit their opinions during the planning stages before any curriculum is selected, so they feel ownership and see their perspectives reflected. Host a family night after a curriculum is selected to engage parents and families, answer questions, and address concerns. Assign “homework” during implementation to encourage conversations at home and ask for feedback after the curriculum is completed.
Communicate with parents through multiple channels
Use email, print and virtual flyers, workshops, newsletters, social media, and virtual events to provide a variety of ways to share information with families. These varied methods allow parents and families to engage with information in a way that works best for them. Additionally, communicating through multiple channels helps reduce the likelihood that information will be missed. Ensure these materials are developed in a culturally appropriate, inclusive way.
Find an advocate
Find an active family advocate or group of parents that will champion the comprehensive sex ed program and curricula. Family advocates can be crucial in leading and garnering support for your sex ed program. Leverage providers or other community advocates to help locate family advocates, and pay attention to who shows up to events and actively engages.
Maybe you’re a teacher looking for ways to encourage more parent-child conversations at home about comprehensive sex ed topics. Or maybe you’re a parent thinking the active family advocate sounds like it’s right up your alley. No matter what brought you here, when parents actively engage in this part of their child’s education—by staying informed, communicating openly, and partnering with schools—we help young people lay the foundation for healthier relationships, informed choices, and lifelong respect for themselves and others.
PHOTO BY: MONKEY BUSINESS
