Parenting expert Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair will explain How Can You Be a Go-To Parent (or Grandparent)? in a talk on Thursday, July 16, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center, in what promises to be a practical, intelligent, funny, insightful and timely Summer Institute event.

We live in a time when text-messaging and IM-ing allow kids to create a world unto themselves, effectively shutting out the adults who are most concerned with helping them to grow into healthy adults themselves. Dr. Steiner-Adair is a welcome, entertaining and necessary antidote to this epidemic.

Dr. Steiner-Adair reports: “The last time I gave this talk, I was in a very conservative environment, talking to grandparents about how to talk to your grandchildren about oral sex — and I got a great reaction! A huge reaction. A lot of grandparents get their grandkids for the summer, and they’re even less prepared to talk about certain issues than the parents are.”

If kids don’t go to their family member — not just about sex, but about everything contributing to self-esteem, from smoking to fashion to constructing a moral code — then they’ll probably go to the Internet, or the most “grown-up” of their peers.

Dr. Steiner-Adair is a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School; coauthor of the book Full of Ourselves: A Wellness Program Advancing Girl Power, Health and Leadership; and Director of Eating Disorders Education and Prevention at McLean Hospital. In 2006 she was recognized as one of Jewish Women International’s 10 Women to Watch for her work on raising healthy, confident kids. A former school psychologist who weaves research with real-life stories, Dr. Steiner-Adair’s passion for helping adults raise strong, savvy children extends to boys and girls from preschool through college.

This talk will be for every parent, grandparent, teacher, counselor and therapist. It begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center on Centre street in Vineyard Haven. Cost is $15 at the door.