This was not his first romance. There was the woman who lived in the room next to him. They began dating and were engaged three months after my mother died. She then died from a brain tumor. Then there was the short-term rehabilitation resident he connected with. She left before things heated up. And now he had a new relationship.

Once I got my bearings I informed the social worker my father was not to be given protection or conjugal visit privileges until I had an opportunity to discuss this matter with him. He has some cognitive limitations, and I wanted to make sure he could comprehend the matter and understand the road he wants to travel with a woman he met just a few weeks ago.

I have been in the role of parent to my parent for quite a while now. However, it is still cringeworthy to hear your father wants to be sexually active and that I need to have a conversation with him about safe sex.

Between the abundant use of potent erectile dysfunction medication, postmenopausal estrogen and progesterone creams and the absence of the fear of pregnancy, the elderly can be an amorous group of risky sex participants, spreading sexually transmitted diseases.

I always knew I would be having these types of conversations with my children, preparing them to make informed, rational decisions about sex. I attempt to be transparent with my kids when it comes to puberty, sexual relations and all things brutally awkward for a child to hear their parents talk about. But broaching this topic with my father, who is over 80, felt even tougher.

My father never talked to me about sex. That topic was not to be discussed in our home. The same went for subjects like drugs, smoking and sexual orientation. Discussing sex with a family member was uncharted territory for us.

I turned to Google and searched for, “Icebreakers for when you have to talk to your elderly dad about safe sex.” Unfortunately, this proved fruitless.