Sex education is a crucial topic that needs to be discussed openly by every adult, this is because it helps the young generation to gain the information and skills they need to make the best decisions for themselves about sex and relationships.
As a parent in the current generation, if you don’t educate your child on this topic he/she will be misinformed by other sources like magazines, friends, and websites.
An alarm has been raised by the ministry of health on the rising cases of HIV infections, gender, sexual violence, and adolescent pregnancies in the country.
This calls for immediate action to salvage the situation, who are we to blame? who is failing our children, these questions are directed to both parents, teachers, guardians, church elders, and our leaders in general.
New statistics released by the ministry of health on Tuesday show that in the last year, on average, 98 new HIV infections were recorded every week among adolescents of age 10-19 years.
According to the report, Kenya is the third-highest country worldwide with teenage pregnancies where one in every five adolescent women aged 15 -19 are already mothers or pregnant with their first child.
“Kenya has the 3rd highest teen pregnancies worldwide where one in every five adolescents aged 15 -19 are already mothers or pregnant with their first child,” said Health PS Susan Mochache.
This indicates that HIV and AIDS is a threat to our adolescents and young people.
Teenagers in the country are in need of comprehensive sex education on different topics relating to sexuality and sexual health, this will be relevant if it includes information about body image, abstinence, contraception, gender, human reproduction, human anatomy, pregnancy, and safe sex which will in return reduce the cases.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO FOR A SUCCESSFUL SEX EDUCATION TALK
Use direct and clear communication, even if it feels uncomfortable, and consider age and experiences, it can be achieved by asking questions rather than instructing and ordering.
Feel free during your conversation, for the kids to open up, you also need to be relaxed, and earn their trust.
Consider maturity level, what they know and how they know.
Explain sexual abuse and encourage them to talk to you about anything that makes them uncomfortable.
Don’t preach abstinence-only and forgo sharing other relevant information, yes abstinence is what they should do but don’t keep them in the dark when it comes to birth control and protection against sexually transmitted diseases.
ADVANTAGES OF INITIATING EARLY SEX TALK
Your relationship with your child will be better, they will openly talk to you because you are already talking to them about love, sex, relationships, and growing up.
When your kids go out to the world they meet new experiences they will turn back to you to help them in working out fact from fiction.
Kids will feel positive about themselves and everything surrounding them when they talk to you, they get the message that there is nothing to be ashamed of.
Your child will be able to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate behavior which means they will know if someone touches them inappropriately, they will recognize this and hopefully tell a trusted adult.