Families - Talking About HIV/AIDS
This information is designed to help families
talk with their children and teens about HIV/AIDS. You may think your children are too young
to learn about HIV/AIDS, but people hear many messages about it from the media,
friends, and other family members. Perhaps they even no someone who is
HIV positive. The truth is the only way to help prevent HIV/AIDS among
your people is share accurate, age-appropriate information so that they can
protect themselves.
What is HIV? HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency
Virus. The virus only lives in humans and attacks the immune system by
invading the white blood cells called T-cells. A person can be
infected with HIV and not know it and may not have any symptoms and feel healthy.
What is AIDS? AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency
Syndrome. It is called a syndrome because AIDS is a collection of symptoms,
diseases or infections. AIDS is the diagnosis given to an HIV positive
person who has a T-cell count of less than 200 (normally a person with a healthy
immune system has T-cell count between 800-1200 T-cell count) or someone who
is HIV positive and developed one of the many “opportunistic infections
(OI) ”. These types of infections include rare cases of cancer,
pneumonia and others. On average, it takes more than 10 years for a person
infected with HIV to become ill with AIDS.
How to you get HIV? Someone who is HIV positive can
pass the virus to another person through certain body fluids. They include
blood, semen, vaginal secretions, breast milk and other body fluids containing
blood. Certain behaviors can put people at risk of HIV infection. The
most common ways to transmit the virus are having unprotected sexual intercourse
(oral, vaginal, or anal) with someone who is HIV positive; sharing needles
with someone who is HIV positive (sharing drugs, body piercing or tattoo);
form an HIV positive mother to her baby before or during birth or after birth
through breastfeeding.
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Do not wait for your child to ask questions. Know and
practice the messages you want to share with them. Seek “teachable
moments” and opportunities to share your message and values. Let
your child know you are open to talking with them about sexuality issues. Listen
to them. Provide accurate, age appropriate information (books, pamphlets,
and other material). Find out what your children’s schools
are teaching about HIV/AIDS.
Talking with
Preschoolers (ages of 3-4): Children
at this age are learning about their bodies. They begin to ask questions. They
understand simple answers. The best thing to do is to create an environment
where children feel comfortable asking questions about this body, health, and
sexuality in discussing in your home.
Talking with
young children (ages
of 5-8): Children
at this age understand more complex issues about health, disease, and sexuality.
They are interested in birth, families, and death. They may have
heard about HIV/AIDS from television, friends, or adults. The information
you provide them should be simple, clear, and age-appropriate
language for them. They
may have questions or fears about HIV/AIDS. They may have heard people
get HIV because they are bad. They understand answers to questions
based on concrete examples from their lives. For example, if your child
cuts their finger and blood appears, you have an excellent opportunity
to explain how germs (things that make you sick) can get into the blood system
from cuts in the body. If they are in school with a child with
HIV, they need to know they will not get HIV/AIDS from playing, studying,
or eating with or talking with that child. They need to know if someone
is bleeding they should not touch the blood, they should find an adult to
help them. If
they find a needle on the playground, street,or anywhere else, they should
not touch it, but find an adult to help.
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Talking with
Preteens (age’s nine to 12): Because of
strong social pressures that start at this age, it is important that you talk
with your child about HIV/AIDS. As a concerned parent, you must
make certain your child knows about prevention. During the changes of
puberty, preteens are very curious about sex and need basic, accurate information. They
need to know that sex has consequences, including pregnancy, diseases, and
HIV infection. They need to know why sexual intercourse- vaginal, anal
or oral- is an adult behavior and why it is a good idea for young people to
wait to have sex. They need to know how HIV is transmitted, and how to
prevent transmission, including using condoms. This may seem
like a difficult tack, but it will give you a chance to teach your child the
values that you hope they will adopt in their lives. It is a time to
remind children that they can come to you with questions about HIV/AIDS and/or
sexuality.
Talking with Teens (ages 13 to 19): The social
pressure to try sex and drugs are often very strong for teens at this age. It
is estimated that over 50% of young people in grades 9 through 12 have had
sexual intercourse and it is important for your share your values with your
child on sexuality. Let your teenager and preteen know that the best
way to prevent HIV infection is not to engage in any behavior that will put
them at risk for infection, including having any type of sexual intercourse,
including oral sex; or using any type of drugs. At
the same time, explain if they are sexually active, that they must protect
themselves against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including
HIV. This is the time when you might consider taking with your teen about
the full range of sexual behaviors that people find pleasure but do not involve
any exchange of body fluids and lessen the risk of STD/HIV infection and pregnancy. Examples
include hugging, kissing, massage, watching sexy videos, masturbation, French
kissing and body rubs. Abstinence is not having any sexual
intercourse and it is the best method for preventing HIV infection, STDs and
pregnancy. Lifelong monogamy with an uninfected and honest partner
is an effective way to prevent HIV infection too. Teenagers who have
intercourse should use latex condoms for each and every act of intercourse,
including oral, vaginal and anal sex. Teenagers should avoid all drugs
and alcohol because they impair good decision-making and may suppress the immune
system. Sharing needles of any kind puts people at risk for HIV and other
infections. This includes body piercing, tattooing, injecting steroids
or other injecting drugs.
Good Sources for HIV/AIDS Information include:
www.powerkidspress.com or
call 888-436-4643 for series of books designed for elementary school children
www.channing-bete.com or
call 800-628-7733 for workbooks and pamphlets on HIV/AIDS designed for children
of all ages
www.cdc.gov or
call for free brochures on HIV/AIDS (need to put telephone number here)
www.advocatesforyouth.org provides
information for parents and young people on sexual health and sexuality education
in the US
www.hivinstite.ucsf.edu/In-site from
the University of California, San Francisco provides answers to common questions
on HIV/AIDS
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