TV Reviews : ‘What Kids Want to Know About Sex’ on PBS

It’s a fact of life that a lot of us have trouble talking to our children about the facts of life. We provide sketchy answers to “those” questions or gear up to deliver the Big Talk one day and avoid the subject thereafter.

That doesn’t do much to help an anxious, confused and self-conscious adolescent through one of the most turbulent times of his or her life.

Fear not.

Tonight, in one of its most grown-up moments, television goes beyond birds-and-bees basics to provide straight-talking sex education for both parents and children.

“What Kids Want to Know About Sex and Growing Up,” a special edition of the PBS series “3-2-1 Contact” for ages 8 and up, is primarily a question-and-answer format with kids, parents and two sex educators, Dr. Robert Selverstone and Rhonda Wise. (It airs at 8 p.m. on KCET-TV Channel 28 and KPBS-TV Channel 15, and at 5 p.m. May 21 on KOCE-TV Channel 50.)

That doesn’t mean it’s clinical or boring. You see adults and kids with real anxieties and real questions. You see the self-consciousness, then the relief as they receive real answers.

Selverstone and Wise clear up misinformation, speak in easy-to-understand language and continually underscore one fact that both parents and children need to hear: Sexual development is not something to be ashamed of or worried about. It’s a normal part of growing up.

Love, privacy, peer pressure, media pressure, AIDS, “safer” (not “safe”) sex, masturbation and homosexuality are part of the dialogue.

The importance of parents sharing their own values and beliefs about sex with their children is stressed, too; this responsible program--which will be available on home video by the end of the month--is intended to be a foundation for healthy communication, not a replacement for it.