Parents as agents of informal sex education: what to do?

Abstract

This article was born out of the numerous conversations of the author with parents over the past five years and discussions about educational articles. In the article, the reader is offered a short historical overview of the conditions in which a certain attitude to childhood, childish physical integrity and child sexuality has arisen, and he is invited to think that such obvious parenting practices are not something unshakable and natural at all. We also set ourselves the task of revealing and substantiating the need for sexual education and education from the age of the kindergarten: by comparing the experience and the results obtained in those countries where sexual education has been introduced for several decades. Finally, in this article, we offer the reader some classification of the main topics for talking with the child about sexuality, intimacy and relationships, justifying the age range, appropriateness and relevance of each topic for each specific age.

Keywords

• children's corporality
• children's sexual education