When and Where Should Sexuality Education for Children Start?

                                                                                               

                                                                    

Sex is everywhere in nature, it is in plants, as well as in birds, and animal life. Knowing the fundamentals of biology can provide the parent not only with the vocabulary but with an approach. Sex is also fundamental in nature; and it is perfectly normal for a child to wonder about it.

     Attitude about sex which a child develops in his first five or six years is considered by psychologists as one of the major factors in shaping his/her entire life and development. This attitude begins to be formed with the act of living, everything happening to the child and taking place about him leaves subtle imprints.

The subject of sexuality can also be effectively delivered through sex self-help authors, blog posts, newspaper and magazine articles, or through some credible sources of sex education on the internet. However, sex education from the onset has remained a sensitive and controversial issue in many societies of several nations. 

For example, there are schools that incorporate sex education as a part of the curriculum, particularly in junior secondary school or senior secondary school levels. In some other instances, sex education just forms part of a broader topic like biology, health and fitness or physical and health education. 

There are also some schools with no sex education in their curriculum, since there has been much debate as to the age at which children can be exposed to such sensitive topics, the amount of information that should be taught, and topics dealing with human sexual behaviours.

    Experts however say that sex education begins at home and at birth. A child shows curiosity about his body and about sex at an early age, although in different way and on a different level from an adult.
    
    Beginning at about age 3 to 4 years, the child will start asking questions, about himself, and where he/she came from, which he/she has a right to do without fear or shame.

1. The questions should be answered truthfully and in a straightforward manner, giving enough information to satisfy the child’s immediate curiosity. In these early stages, a generalized sentence or two is often adequate.

2. The way parents feel about sex, and how they act toward each other is reflected in the child. If the mother associates sex with disgust and danger, if she feels being a woman is a lot of burden and giving birth is a sacrifice, such mother may be laying the seeds of problems that may trouble the child in later life.

3. Similarly, if the father treats the wife as inferior, he may instil in the child such attitude toward sex that can cause inner conflict that may lie hidden in the child for years.The child in early life notices differences between men and women in voice, figure, and dress, in a man, possession of beard, in household functions which the father and mother perform.

4. In a home in which there is warmth, love, and truthfulness, the child will feel free to ask questions about these differences and about himself. If the parent is embarrassed or evasive, or if the whole issue of sex is considered taboo.

The child too, may come to regard sex or parts of his body with disgust or shame in time the child may think of sex as dirty, instead of as a natural process in the continuation of life.