Sex and Responsibility go hand in hand

Nothing can be more exciting and tiring like parenting. Parenting is an exciting journey which is often riddled with uncomfortable questions like sex, nudity, curiosity about body parts and physical attraction. Addressing your child about these issues tactfully and correctly may be a difficult task

It is natural for children to be curious about their bodies. Post toilet training they become aware of their gender differences and they are also aware of their own sexual organs. Probably that is the reason boy and girls have separate toilets. When your child is curios about the differences in sexual parts just tell him that the way two different toy cars or for that matter real cars are designed differently, in the same way body parts of men and women are also designed differently by god.

Toddlers have the tendency to touch their own private body parts. Do not shout at him or hit him or make him feel ashamed of what he has done. Just sit down and make him understand that touching private part is not a good habit. At the same time watch out if touching private part is an obsessive habit because psychologists believe that it can be a symptom of sexual abuse.

It is important for the parents to introduce the concept of good and bad touch. Make him understand that his private part his very own that no body should touch him in a way that will make him feel uncomfortable. By the time a child turns three he is fully aware of his gender identity and hence it is advisable for parents to avoid being in the nude before their kids.

When kids turn four that should be told that they are not supposed to undress in front of any body other than their parents. Parents should also not undress in front of kids. Children love to cuddle up with their parents when they are sleeping. But if this habit continues for very long then it can make them extremely clingy which is again not good for the development of the child.

Children should not be exposed to any form of sexual activity between their parents, but at the same time parents should behave affectionately in front of their kids. Expressions such as hugging, holding hands are all warm expressions of love. It gives the kids a feeling of being in a secure and loving environment.

We as parents it is our responsibility to impart sex education to children before they start indulging themselves in unnatural behaviours or develop wrong ideas about sex. The normal questions that come to a kids mind are where does babies come from? Why doesn’t papa have breasts? And the questions go on and on. You can make the kid sit and explain it to him about human physiology first and how it happens scientifically.  You can explain it to him that when the sperm cell and the egg cell meet then babies are born.

Sex education is generally given to kids in school when they are in their eighth or ninth standard. But kids these days are well informed about sex even before their age, parents can talk to them before they get a wrong view about it.