ABSTRACT
When Janet asked her 17-year-old son, Kyle, if he uses condoms when he has sex, Kyle’s response was: “yeah, half of the time.” Janet felt disheartened that all her efforts throughout the years teaching her son about STIs and the risk of unintended pregnancy was futile. You’re only using condoms half of the time?! That’s a pretty big risk to take. You could get STIs, including HIV, and you could get someone pregnant, was what she wanted to shout out loud! After taking a breath and becoming aware of her emotions, she remembered her core values of respect and love and decided to respond in a different way: “That’s great that you’re using condoms! I’m curious, what’s been working for you during the times when you do use them?” Kyle disclosed to his mum that he would use them when he knew there was a chance to have sex with his girlfriend and the times things happened spontaneously, he just let it go. They were then able to brainstorm about how he could have more frequent access to condoms. Janet also referred him to a website with information on lower-risk sexual activities, such as oral sex, mutual masturbation and erotic massage.
