My mom said to us, “If you got pregnant, your butt would be to work.”

I was in the 6th grade at the time, watching an Oprah episode about pregnant teens with my mom and two sisters. In what one might call a “teachable moment,” instead of continuing the conversation, my mom was only adamant that I go to work to support myself if I ever became a teenage mom.

When I was 18 I became pregnant. It was the August after my high school graduation.

As you might have guessed, I couldn’t tell my mom. I decided to take a three-month trip to visit family in Baja instead. It wasn’t until December when my boyfriend pressured me to tell her that I finally did.

She was most upset she would become a grandmother at the young age of 41.

When my son Ramiro was three months old, I took a three-month intensive job training program five days a week, eight hours a day, during which I was also working in telemarketing at night. During these months, I saw my baby for about 15 minutes a day while driving between school, work and my mother-in-law’s house.

I eventually landed a position at a Planned Parenthood health center, and then moved on to the public affairs department where I have been working for over a decade.

Attending a recent Planned Parenthood presentation on “How to Talk to Your Teen about Sex,” I realize that though I had heard much of the information before, I still have a tough time talking to Ramiro (now 15) about sex. My mother’s cultural and family background made it difficult for her to talk to me about it, and now I was suffering from the same block.

How am I to respond when he expresses curiosity about girls? How could I not be shocked by my own son’s emerging sexuality?

How do I let him know he can talk to me about sex?

It helps to discuss these difficult questions with others with similar challenges. Programs like the Planned Parenthood parenting workshops allow parents to talk and exchange ideas; other parents may have tried approaches I haven’t, and vice versa.

Though “the talk” should in fact be a lifelong conversation with your children, it is never too late to learn ways to build trust between parent and child. By volunteering in my two sons’ activities, I hope to stay involved in all aspects of their lives, and hope they know they can come talk to me about anything, including sex.