Sometimes, life presents you with openings—an engraved invitation, if you will, to share information or values with your children. These golden opportunities are what we call “teachable moments.” Sometimes they present themselves because your child asks a question or makes a statement, particularly when those statements are incorrect or contrary to your values. Other times, our teachable moments arrive via the media. These teachable moments can be especially useful, because (a) there are so many of them, and (b) they rarely reflect your family values. It’s a never-ending source of “Let’s talk about this!” moments.
This brings me to Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney Spears’ 16 year old younger sister. Do you know that she’s pregnant? Your school-aged kids probably do. She announced her pregnancy in a tabloid magazine a month or so ago. I want to propose that you consider the media coverage of her pregnancy a very useful teachable moment.
