SEX AND CHILDHOOD: TALKING ABOUT SEX
Teaching our children about sex is as important to their wellbeing as teaching them about good food, road safety or protecting their environment. But no one says it’s always going to be easy.
It’s not possible to write a script for every situation, but here are some useful guidelines that will help you to talk to children about sex.
There are certain times in a child’s life when you can pretty easily predict that they are going to want to know more. If you tell a three year old that there is a new baby brother or sister growing in Mum’s tummy, they’re sure to want to know how it got there. If parents are separated and a new partner comes on the scene, questions will be asked. Sooner or later, they’re going to want to know what a condom is.
If you can foresee that things like these are going to come up, you can prepare a bit of a spiel that covers the basics.
Thankfully the days of babies arriving in the cabbage patch or being dropped off by a low-flying stork are long gone. Children cope with the truth remarkably well, provided we use words they can understand and we are prepared to take the time to explain anything they don’t follow. A friend in her forties is the youngest of four siblings. She recalls that, when she was about six, a neighbor became pregnant. She had no idea what pregnancy was, only that the lady next door was getting fat in the strangest way. Curiosity got the better of her so she asked her mother about it. ‘It’s a growth,’ she was told. ‘Don’t worry, the doctor will take it out.’ She was worried sick for months, wondering if the woman was going to die.
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