PARENTS AND CHILDREN: SEX

Posted on March 11th, 2009, by admin

Many parents are uncomfortable about their own bodies and disturbed about their own sexuality. Because of this they find it difficult to let their children become acquainted, quite casually, with naked male and female bodies, and they are unable to answer children’s questions honestly and objectively. When a child asks why its father has a penis, they are evasive and embarrassed. When a child asks how babies are made, they retreat into euphemisms or silence. When a child asks what its parents do in bed, the question is brushed off, or answered dishonestly.

Because of this reticence, the information many children obtain from their parents is inadequate and inaccurate and is given too late. Those parents who are comfortable about their own sexuality and who enjoy sex are able to understand their child’s curiosity and can talk with the child so that the information it so eagerly seeks is obtained in appropriate parcels. These parents take the initiative in helping their children understand the joy of sexuality, and provide the child with a base so that it can cope better with the usual attitudes of society to sex. These parents are exceptions. Most children do not have their curiosity satisfied and get most of their sexual information, or misinformation, from their age-mates. Children are capable of understanding (or misunderstanding) sex long before puberty, and need guidance so that myth and fact, sensuality and sentimentality, eroticism and love can be differentiated.

*33/16/113*

Share and Enjoy: