It involves educating children generally of adolescent age about sexual health and related aspects. It includes hormonal changes, anatomy, reproduction, sexual urges and attraction, menstruation and psychological responses to these changes. Primarily the source of this education should be parents. Secondarily, schools should compulsorily inculcate sex education in their curriculum.
In India if we talk about sex education, it comes neither from parents or teachers. Children learn from friends, media, internet or other sources. This can create a negative and inappropriate image of sex. Sexual growth and puberty is a normal part of growing up. It can be so much easier if there is someone to talk about this and guide you through. Children, especially adolescents undergo a lot of physical, emotional and hormonal changes in the age 10-16. To cope up with all of it, parents can play a very vital role.
Why is it crucial?
With puberty, and all the changes a teenager has to face, it can be very relaxing to know that you can talk to your parents about it without feeling weird. It helps create social security and self-acceptance. Even in future the child will feel safe talking about other life matters.
Helps Child to Acclimatize to Changes
A lot of changes takes place during adolescence, especially physical changes to the body. Educating them on sexual health can help understand changes happening to their body and mind in a simpler way.
As adolescents, we all felt weird and embarrassed about menstruation or anything related to puberty in general. We were unclear of why these changes are happening to us and is it appropriate to talk about it to other peers or guardians. It’s because we had no or very little information about it. Thus parents should teach on why and how these changes takes place. It can be comforting to know that parents are open to discussing this.
When all of a sudden our reproductive or sexual organs starts to grow, it feels uncanny and unnatural. Children achieve puberty at different ages and it may cause some of them to look different than others. It can create anxiety, discomfort, shame or complex. Thus to resolve or avoid these issues, teach about sexual organs and that they will undergo changes in this age. Due to release of sex hormones, natural healthy growth takes place. It’s important to convey that it’s nothing to shy away from and help your child to feel more secure about his or her physical appearance.
With change in hormones and growth spurt, a teenager also experiences emotional changes and vulnerability. There is a sudden burst of emotions like anger, irritability, confusion and fear. Guiding your child and supporting emotionally becomes necessary. It helps in healthy development of a teenager’s mind and social capabilities.
Adolescents are highly vulnerable to mental disorders like depression and social anxiety. As we can observe, mental disorders are most prevalent in the adolescent age. If not paid attention, these disorders can accompany till adulthood and create more severe social problems. Talking, discussing and listening to your child’s problems can prevent him or her from experiencing any of the above mentioned disorders. At this age peer groups and social interactions become a very important part of a teenager’s life and can creates a certain pressure. It can lead to an emotionally confused state and rash or ignorant choices. To tackle, parents should actively interact and ask their children about friends and social groups.
To understand your child’s needs and curiosity
With teenage approaching there can be a lot of discussion relating to sex among friends or at school. A child might be overwhelmed with everybody at school talking about reproduction and sexual interests. This generates curiosity, excitement and also social anxiety for some.
If parents don’t try to teach about these topics, children will obviously reach out to some other sources. When the curiosity is not addressed appropriately or neglected completely, can lead to problematic behavior in some teenagers. Some even go to the extent of experimenting or committing illegal deeds.
In an article by Hindustan Times, Dhamini Ratnam shares a shocking and equally disturbing data about sexual crimes committed by juveniles. It also mentioned that rapes by juveniles increased almost eleven times between 1991 and 2016. One of the reasons can be the misinformation and violent content available on the internet. Thus teaching consent and appropriate sexual behavior is must at this age.
Read the full article below:
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/why-are-so-many-minors-committing-heinous-sex-crimes/story-nmiXVEXugqNLGH5FLJt1XP.html
Practice safe sex
At some point of time, your child will attain sexual, emotional as well as physical maturity and might want to experience it with a trusted partner. But it also means there is a chance of sexually transmitted infection if safe sexual practices are not followed. A teenage, should know the importance of contraception from the very initial phase. Other person involved can persuade to do the contrary but it’s always important to be conscious and make a wise decision.
It has also been observed that parents who regularly talk to their children about sexual matters, their children are less likely to engage in unsafe sex activities and tend to make clever choices. In Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2018 by CDC, it is stated that young people aged 15–24 years acquire half of all new STDs and that one in four sexually-active adolescent females has an STD, such as chlamydia or human papillomavirus (HPV).
Discussing about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases can lower these figures and also prevent promiscuity. Unwanted pregnancies and STDs like AIDS can also pose a great health risk. If teenagers already are well informed about the outcomes, they can make better choices for themselves.
Restrict from undignified online content
When children learn about sex from other sources, information possibly can be unauthentic and incomplete. Also in media and social platforms sex is presented in a glorious and exaggerated form. It can lead to misinformation and wrong perception about sex.
When parents teach children about it, they can convey everything that’s necessary and crucial according to their age. Nearly 12% of web content is related to pornography. It can lead to internet and porn addiction.
In an article by The Recovery Village, it is stated that early exposure to porn and sexual content is correlated with increased usage of porn even in later stages of life. In the same article it’s mentioned how emotional and psychological problems can accompany this addiction. It can also lead to cybercrime and sharing of private images.
There are all sorts of people on internet and teenagers are too naive to understand intentions of people who approach them online. Statistics say 1 in every 4 teenager is a victim of digital abuse. It becomes important to keep your children informed about the ill effects of online sex content. Parents should be the one to teach about it so that children will avoid reaching out to other sources.
Some facts related to porn addiction: https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/process-addiction/porn-addiction/pornography-statistics/
For Overall Healthy Development of the Child
For an individual to develop, physical, mental and emotional growth is equally important. At times, too much stress is given to physical development and parents do not take emotional well-being into consideration. Talk openly and ask about the relationship your child shares with friends. Guide on how to choose the right people because it can have a great influence.
Also when you are frank about emotions and relationships, your child will feel comfortable talking about other issues as well.
In this era, there is a lot of casual dating and romantic relationships. Some teenagers struggle and can be deeply affected due to heartbreak or losing friends. So be empathetic and don’t criticize your child for making any absurd choices. Patience and love is the key to raising a teenager.
Initiating this conversation can be awkward for both the children and parents. So parents should take a step forward and initiate it first. Don’t avoid bringing up this conversation due to hesitation or any other reason. It will get easier with time and your children will appreciate you and confide in you in times of dilemma and anxiety.
