Discussion forum for parents in Australia
07-19-2020 02:33 AM
07-19-2020 04:19 PM - edited 07-19-2020 04:53 PM
Hi Laila, thank you so much for sharing. I can understand why you are feeling concerned about this type of behaviour. It is only normal for parents to be concerned when their child begins to develop sexual interest. You are definitely not alone in feeling this way and it is a struggle for a lot of parents. It could be possible that your daughter has not sent these pictures to anyone - some teenagers might take pictures to feel more confident about their body or sexuality. Unfortunately it would be difficult to know if these pictures have been sent as messages can be deleted.
It might be helpful for you to talk to your daughter about the situation. Have you talked to your daughter about these types of topics before? We have some articles here about how to talk to your teenager about sexting which may be helpful for you. It has a lot of tips about the types of things you can say to help direct an open conversation. Here you might be able to encourage your daughter to discuss whether she shared these pictures and videos with anyone. It might be beneficial for your daughter to talk to a counsellor if you feel as though she is likely to be more honest or comfortable doing so.
If you feel like you need some support for yourself, there is a service called ParentLine which offers telephone counselling. It also has a number of referrals and resources that may be helpful for you.
Please keep us updated
It looks like you’re visiting us from a country other than Australia.
We are an Australian service and think you’d benefit more from looking up a similar service in your country.
You are welcome to look around the forums, but please don’t make an account or post, as we can’t offer you the help you may need.
Before you go ahead and post, you should know that we remove non-Australian accounts – not because we don’t want to help or connect with you, but because we may not be able to provide you with the service that you require.