BlogHer - Talking to Your Kids About HIV/AIDS - Comments

Perhaps Dr. Greene helps makes the topic more "parent friendly"

Chris--MomathonBlog.com — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:48:20 -0500

Glad you like the Dr. Greene article. I also think the video is excellent...although the sound quality is not so great at times. Many kids would like to hear another kid ask the tough questions of the experts just like the young girls featured in the video. That said, the young girls in the video are not your average 4 and 6 yr olds. Their parents are the filmmakers. So I'm thinking they have talked about the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS at home prior to the filming at the AIDS Conference in Toronto. Some young kids would probably like and appreciate the video, but others would find it a bit overwhelming just because the topics related to HIV/AIDS have not been discussed at home.

I am a long time Dr Greene fan

Denise — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:31:00 -0500

Serious, hard core, fan of Dr Greene and his answer is awesome. Perfect Dr Greene style.

I'm about half way through the video and I don't see anything a 4 year old or 6 year old shouldn't see but I don't think the video works as one for kids because the background noise is too loud. It's difficult to hear and follow because it's filmed at conferences. It's even hard for me to hear and follow and I know an awful lot about HIV/AIDS.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

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Talking to Your Kids About HIV/AIDS

Chris--MomathonBlog.com — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:17:38 -0500

Monday--At what age should you begin to talk to your kids about HIV/AIDS? It’s tempting to delay starting the discussion about AIDS until the teenage years. But a new video "Please Talk to Kids About AIDS" shows why younger children may have questions that need to be answered. In the video, two young sisters, ages 6 and 4, ask questions "that only a child could ask" and get basic, honest, and fresh answers about the disease. I don’t think a six-year-old needs a frank discussion about all aspects of AIDS or should watch this video--even if the featured actors are the same age. Obviously some information about AIDS is too sexually explicit for young kids. But waiting until the teenage years to begin a discussion about AIDS seems too late. So when do kids need to get answers about AIDS? Well, that depends on each kid. When kids ask questions, then they needs answers. Some kids hear about HIV/AIDS from friends or the media earlier than you would imagine and unfortunately what they learn could be inaccurate and frightening. That’s why it is important for parents to know the facts about the disease so they can clearly explain HIV/AIDS in age-level appropriate language for kids. To read an article that offers a clear and easy-to-understand explanation of HIV/AIDS for elementary age children, check out the link in my Momathon Blog post for the article written by Dr. Greene: "Talking To Kids About HIV." To read the rest of my Momathon Blog post go to http://www.MomathonBlog.com.