Hi, I'm Rina Ninean and this is Ask Lisa, the Psychology of Parenting Podcast.

It's a podcast to help parents better understand their kids. Dr. Lisa DeMore, a psychologist with three

decades of experience, and the author of three New York Times best-selling parenting

books takes your questions. Both of us are moms ourselves, and we're eager to hear from you.

So send us your questions to Ask Lisa at Dr.LisaDemore.com. And you can join our community by

following us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The handle is Ask Lisa Podcast. And also subscribe to our

brand new YouTube channel, Ask Lisa Podcast. Episode 160, can I require my teen to be on birth control?

I'm a little bit nervous about this week's episode. Yeah, how come? I just, I think it's sort of the way I was growing. You don't talk about sex in an India in a household. Nobody. You're just magically children appear when you're married. Okay. Like that is sort of the, so I guess it makes me, like, why do we feel so uncomfortable? And you talk about

European countries, how this is like not such a big deal. Why are we so scared in some families

to talk about sex? You know, it really is a taboo topic in a lot of families. And that's too bad.

And I'll tell you why it's too bad because we end up lumping sex together

with risk factors and certainly it can be risky. But we also know from the research that if it

can actually be lumped under natural and healthy development and physical romance being part of that,

you get better outcomes. Kids take better care of themselves.

They're less likely to have outcomes they don't want. Better outcomes. Well, I can't wait to get to all

this. I want to read you the letter we got that made us pay attention for this episode.

Hello, Dr. Lisa. I'm a huge fan of your books and podcasts. I'm hoping you can help me with my daughter.

I have a 15-year-old who's been in a relationship with her boyfriend for almost a year now.

I've talked to her about sex and the importance of being safe. She says she hasn't had sex yet, and I believe her.

But I'd be naive to think she isn't considering it. I want to put her on birth control, but every time I bring up the subject, she shuts me down and refuses to even consider

it as an option. She says she doesn't want to take another medication. She's already on meds for her

ADHD. I've reached out to her counselor and doctor to talk to her about sex and protecting herself,

...