For a decade we had been discussing about starting of sex education but where do we stand even after a decade. Anyhow if I ask you to start sex education with your kids , most of us would be clueless about how to start. From what point we should begin with? So after an intensive research on the internet i came to know about a shortcoming that almost we all follow, this is regarding naming body parts.
We often don’t tell our kids the exactly name of body parts like most of the kids tell their body parts as Bottom Part, Top Part , Back side.
Lets take an example, suppose doctors don’t use disease names like Corona, TB instead they call it by their symptoms and someone suffering from TB having so much cough visit a medical store and ask for medicine of cough and congestion in chest, now medical store owners consider it as symptom of Corona and give him medicine of Corona, what will happen?
Naming Body Parts
I think we should teach them private body parts properly as Hips, Vagina, Penis , Breast/Chest , and this way the understanding will start. Feeling comfortable using these words and knowing what they mean can help a child talk clearly if something inappropriate has happened.
Private Parts
We need to teach them these are their private body and these are called private parts because they are not for everyone to see. Everyone should see them with clothes on.
Bad Touch , Good Touch VS Private Touch
We are teaching them Bad Touch , Good Touch but there is slightly problem with this that is sometimes it is difficult for a kid to differentiate between Bad and Good Touch as often these touches does not hurt or feel bad to kids. So we need to teach them a new term Private Touch. Touching their Private Parts means private touch which is not allowed to anyone except their Parents.
Secret Deal
Before a predator fix a secret deal with your kids , you take the initiative and make a secret deal with your kids , the deal is nothing is secret between you and your kids and make them promise they will not keep any secret with anybody except you . This way they know they can keep a secret only with their mom and dad only. Also create a Safe Code with your kids just like James Bond Movies have that confidential Codes that will come out when your kid feel unsafe / not good with anyone in the world.
Sources:
10 Ways to Teach Your Child the Skills to Prevent Sexual Abuse
https://www.insider.com/how-to-teach-kids-about-sexual-assault-2017-10
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_education_in_India
https://everylifecounts.ndtv.com/india-needs-sex-education-17422https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4711229/
The post serve as the best starting point to initiate a conversation with children. Other ways could be watching kid friendly movies and cartoons and use references from there to help them distinguish good and bad touch. Animations and pictures too can come handy.