By Daniel Itai
Nthabiseng Libinga, a social worker, has advised parents and guardians to engage in sexuality education with their child or children.
“It is important for parents or guardians to initiate that conversation so that when that child starts experiencing some sexual experiences like wet dreams it becomes easy for them to open up.
We must let them know that even in the womb a boy can have an erection. You can even find a one-year old girl touching herself unknowingly, so we need to let our children know that sex is natural which has emotional and psychological effects.
Moreso, parents and guardians also need to teach their child or children about their body parts and naming those body parts. There is no correct way of talking about sex, but you must understand your child first because children have different characters.
However, there is no age which is appropriate to start talking about sex but as a parent or guardian you should start initiating that conversation from as early as possible.
Parents or guardians should take advantage of the questions that their child may ask like daddy why is my body smaller than yours or mummy why is this lady bigger than you? That’s how you start gradually easing into that conversation because when your child reaches the age of 17 it might be too late.
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You must set an environment that makes your child know that they can talk to you about anything. We don’t need to be irrational when talking about sex. The reality parents and guardians need to understand is that children are sexual beings hence, the need to engage in that conversation,” said the social worker.
In some cases, children who get sexually abused remain silent for long periods of time because they won’t be able to know how to engage in that type of conversation with their parent or guardian.
@danielItai_zw
