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What is sexual education?
Sex education teaches children and adolescents about being a woman or a man, being a woman or a woman. It is the education given for the purpose of gaining knowledge about perceptions about being a man, gender roles, and the characteristics of one's own and the opposite sex.
It begins in the family in infancy, is necessary for their ages in primary school, secondary school and high school, and protects them from misinformation and behavior. Teaching children about sexuality is not just about giving them anatomy and fertility information. This is to teach them who they are as girls and boys, and to lay the foundation for who they will be as men and women when they grow up.
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Why should we provide sex education?
Giving sexual education enables the child to know his own body and that of the opposite sex. A child who receives sexual education establishes a more balanced and healthy relationship with the opposite sex, and is protected from problems in his sexual life or concerns about his own body due to misinformation he receives from others. Thanks to sexual education, the child learns to respect his own body and the body of the opposite sex. This enables the child to establish healthy, well-ordered relationships with people of the same and opposite sex in later life.
The child's recognition of his own body and characteristics is a feature that increases his self-confidence. A person who receives information about sexual development from an early age and builds solid foundations in this sense knows his responsibilities towards his body.
Children who are informed about physical changes during adolescence accept their differentiation more quickly, and their fears of abnormality and inadequacy decrease. A person equipped with correct information can easily reject the misinformation he hears about sexuality. Knowledgeable people are more successful in resisting inappropriate suggestions and pressures from their friends. They also have information about protection from sexual abuse.
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When does interest in sexuality begin in children?
Children usually start asking questions about sexuality and wondering about sexual issues around the age of 3. Exploring their genitals and c As the child becomes aware of his/her gender, sexual interests begin to develop. In parallel, he tries to be interested in the opposite sex and discover their characteristics. Then, characteristics related to sexual identity begin to appear.
Girls' insistence on wearing certain colors and clothes such as skirts and dresses, and boys' resistance to the color pink and wearing pantyhose are related to sexual identity behavior.
Just as there may be differences between children in all areas of development, there may also be differences between children in exploring gender and interest in sexual issues. While some children ask questions about sexuality at the age of two, some children begin to be curious about sexual issues around the age of four.
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How should sexual education be given according to age?
Talking about sexuality in the preschool period should start at a young age and continue in line with the child's questions and curiosity throughout the growth process. Preschool children want to know how their own and other children's bodies work, why the bodies of girls and boys are different, and whether private parts should be touched whenever and wherever they want.
Primary school age is when children's interest and curiosity in sexuality decreases but does not disappear. It is a period. Conversations held during this period prepare the child for adolescence. The content of the speech should include topics such as physical and spiritual changes, relations with the opposite sex.
Adolescence is the period when sexual development is intense and the first experiences are experienced. Just as avoiding talking about sexuality does not mean that the teenager will not be sexually active, talking about sexuality does not mean that they will experience what they have learned. On the contrary, research shows that young people who receive sexual education are less likely to have sexual experiences at an early age and behave more consciously and responsibly compared to those who do not receive sexual education.
The way to talk to your child more easily is to start sexual education at an early age. Opportunities offered through daily activities to initiate conversations about sexuality are valued. downloadable. Visual tools such as movies, TV series and magazine articles can be a starting point to start the conversation. You can start the topic by asking what he thinks about this issue. Sexual education to be given to adolescents should not only include information about gender and reproduction, but also topics such as relations with the opposite sex, feelings and values such as love, affection, closeness, and protection from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
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How do parents' attitudes towards questions affect the child?
Each parent answers their children's questions about sexuality according to their education, socio-cultural level, moral values and beliefs. responds and reacts to their behavior. The way parents answer questions and react, that is, their attitudes on this issue, may cause the child to trust his parents and himself, develop trust-based relationships with other people, recognize sexuality as a natural phenomenon, or, conversely, reduce his communication with his parents, hesitate to ask questions, and become sexually active. It causes him to suppress his curiosity about the subjects.
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What happens when sexual education is not given?
Childhood and In people whose curiosity has not been sufficiently satisfied during adolescence or who has encountered negative information and approaches, the belief that sexuality is not a good thing and that it is forbidden, dirty or a sin that should not be taken into consideration is established. This belief affects the lives of many adult people. It has a negative impact on a person's ability to establish a healthy and happy home in the future.
When their questions are not answered as a child or are answered incorrectly and incompletely, that is, when their needs for information are not met on time, they do not consult their parents about the issues they have problems with and wonder about during adolescence, and they do not consult their parents about what they read and learn. They are satisfied with what they get from the environment.
The child, whose sense of curiosity is not satisfied, turns to other sources to get answers to his questions.
In order to give the message to our children that sexuality is a natural subject that can be talked about, we must both obtain information about sexual development periods and We must have knowledge about how to answer their questions.
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