As a parent, you cannot afford to shirk from this all important responsibility. Under no circumstance should a parent or guardian fail to give adequate sex education to their wards. If you do not have the knowledge, seek it! If you don’t know how to teach it, learn it! And that’s the essence of this post.

Everywhere you turn to in the world, the atmosphere seems to be saturated with sexual information. It is so obvious in the more liberal society that you could even sense it through the olfaction. In other climes, it is presented in a rather subtle manner.

The teenagers of this century know more about sex than the adults who were teenagers in the previous centuries, due to level of access to information and exposure. These days, whatever you want to see, or hear is just a click away. in fact unsolicited sensual information via television, social media, internet and peer interaction have taken over the entire social fabric.

No parent can afford to be passive in the matters of inculcating valued components in the character content of their wards. Any child that is not taught the right things about sex will unavoidably learn the wrong things.

Children nowadays grow faster physically than usual, but their level of emotional growth is very low and slow. If their consumption of wrong sexual information is not challenged by sound information, they would soon find themselves in unpalatable consequences, due to emotional immaturity.

The teachings on free sale out there is ‘if it feels good, do it!’, and ‘if you wouldn’t do it, you shouldn’t be with us’. It will take a well tutored emotion to know that it’s not everything that feels good that’s good for everyone.

An unlearned teen would most probably yield to the popular line – ‘if you really love me, proof it…‘ A sexually educated child knows the consequences, such as emotional pain, diseases, unwanted pregnancy, that could result from illicit sexual activities. Any of those consequences may subsequently degenerate into a more grave outcome that could negatively impact on the child’s career.

As a parent, you cannot afford to shirk from this all important responsibility. Under no circumstance should a parent or guardian fail to give adequate sex education to their wards. If you do not have the knowledge, seek it! If you don’t know how to teach it, learn it! And that’s the essence of this post.

A number of puzzling situations surround this issue of teaching sex education, call it mystery if you like. For instance, What exactly does it entail? At what age should you begin to teach sex education to a child? How much information is appropriate for a child at different stage of development and growth? What should be the mode of teaching for different ages? Should you teach boys and girls separately? What if the child act against your teachings?

Be a Model: The best way to teach good character to a child is to show it. They pick up what they watch us doing faster and better than what they hear us passing out as instructions.

The ideal thing is to raise a child within the context of a loving and healthy matrimony. Let your child perceive that Dad and Mum enjoy sex, so that when you are telling them that sex is best enjoyed in a marriage, they feel, it is reliably so. Don’t feel embarrassed by the weight and frequency of their questions, don’t shy away from giving them honest answers.

Most parents are worried that by answering those questions that children usually ask pertaining to sex, they might be exposing them or introducing them to experimentation. Children are curious, and by answering them, you have the opportunity of molding their attitude towards the exclusives in the proper manner. Whether you answer them or not, they will get their curiosity satisfied from other sources. And once they sense that Dad or Mum would shy away or answer them dishonestly, they won’t bother to ask you those questions any longer.

For instance, if your child asks a question about how babies are born, he or she might have heard from peers that babies are born through women’s private part and he/she is wondering how that could be possible. Taking your time to explain what happens in the labour room in simple terms would not only impress him/her, he would always come to you to learn more on the arguments about sex among peers. So, be the model that your child will trust, learn from, emulate and be proud of.

At What Age Should You Begin to Teach Sex Education to a Child?: If you allow a child to reach puberty age before you start to teach them sex education, he/she would feel you are intruding into their privacy, because at that age, a child would have developed his/her own way of handling private matters. So, in order to build a good foundation for smooth future interaction, start teaching a child sex education from the birth.

There is a way you’ll make them know that every part of their body is good and normal. For example, when taking bath, children innocently touch their private parts, if you slap their hands for doing so, you are communicating that the part they are touching is ugly and bad. But, if they are free to touch any part of their body in equal manner, a child can express a feeling of hurt or pain down there, especially in case of sexual abuse by an intruder.

That, and similar examples are a form of education. Secondarily, actual verbal discussion about sex with your child should start by age three or four and not later than age five or six. Once a child is able to watch television, you shouldn’t allow those media to take the place of shaping their sexual orientation.

In a sexually obsessed culture as we have these days, whether you teach a child about sex or not, he/she is learning it. A proactive parent or guardian should take charge.

Continue…Sex Education Demystified (Part Two)››

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