Do you ever feel completely unqualified to talk to your kids about sexuality? On this episode of the Collide Kids Podcast, host Christen Clark sits down with John Fort, Director of Training for Be Broken Ministries, to dive into the tough—but vital—conversations around Christian parenting, raising Christian kids, and guiding family life through today’s culture. John shares wisdom on how faith at home, spiritual growth, and discipleship can be woven into tricky topics like sexuality, gender, and emotions, giving parents practical inspiration to lead with openness, calm, and biblical truth. [00:07:59] Why talking about sexuality is stressful for parents[00:10:03] The crucial role of discussing emotions with your kids as the groundwork[00:14:10] Navigating early exposure to inappropriate content[00:19:02] Biblical versus cultural perspectives on genderResources: John’s book: Don't Stress Talking Sex (published through Tyndale and Focus on the Family)Upcoming middle grade fiction series: Elias Turner series, The Realms of Valdar bebroken.org Conversation card game: Honest Talk (a card game to help parents and kids discuss feelings, awkward situations, and sexuality)Website: collidekidspodcast.comInstagram: @collidekidspod Clip Finder: Viral Topic: Redeeming Failure: So everything I write, all my music, all everything is all about redeeming failure. — John Fort [00:07:20 → 00:07:24] Why Kids Don’t Talk to Parents About Sex: "And all those kids only gave 2 answers. And that was, I'll get in trouble for what I say or even what I ask." — John Fort [00:08:30 → 00:08:37] Why Teens Don't Open Up to Parents: "The parent doesn't want their kids to know the mistakes they've made. Mm-hmm. The kid thinks, I can't tell you what I'm going through because you won't understand. If the parent would share appropriately what they've struggled with, The kid would then understand, oh, you do understand how I feel. And then that opens the conversation." — John Fort [00:08:45 → 00:09:04] Why We Should Talk About Emotions Before Sex Ed: "Because the biggest reason that by the time they get to be teenagers that they get like I was ensnared or enslaved by certain things is because they never learned how to deal with their feelings." — John Fort [00:10:10 → 00:10:21] Parenting Advice: "Because talking about sex is scary. Talking about feelings is scary, but not as scary." — John Fort [00:11:20 → 00:11:25] Helping Kids Process Difficult Topics: "Because when kids are exposed to this, they virtually always have new questions. And they may not tell you today, but maybe 2 or 3 days later, they'll say, you said you wanted to know if I had questions. Well, I have this question now." — John Fort [00:13:20 → 00:13:31] Viral Topic: Couples Rarely Discuss Early Exposure to Sensitive Topics: "You have a couple, a married couple, that have been married for however long, and they don't know, they've never talked about that." — John Fort [00:17:59 → 00:18:04] Rethinking Gender Roles in the Bible: "the Bible says there's certain things it says that seem very, you know, kind of like, okay, you know, men are the head of the household and blah, blah, blah, that kind of stuff. Yeah, it does say that. But then that's brief compared to who are the biblical women that the Bible points out, the heroes, and what are they like? And what are the men who are biblical heroes like? And then in Proverbs, when it talks about a godly woman, a godly man, what does it say?" — John Fort [00:19:22 → 00:19:46] Childhood Independence in the Wilderness: "It was a kind of a moment like, I have to grow up now." — John Fort [00:25:09 → 00:25:12] Bark proactively works to monitor, detect, and alert you to potential issues on your kids' devices. Visit bark.us to learn more about how you can keep your kids safe online. Use the code COLLIDEKIDS to get 15% off Your Bark Technologies Plan ! Support the show
