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I remember going to my, then, 10 year old brother’s field day. It was filled with kids having fun competing against each other for the sheer glory of being a winner. I remember getting into a conversation with one of the mom’s there about how she almost wouldn’t allow her kid to come to the field games because he was previously on punishment. Being nosing and wanting to know more, I asked her why and what could he have done to have almost missed out on a staple in an elementary school kid’s life?
She told me that she caught her son and two other girls sexting to each other. I was shocked. My initial reaction was ‘Oh wow! And he’s only ten?’ My secondary reaction was ‘Wait, he’s only ten AND has a cell phone?’ We’ll get to young kids and cell phones another day, but what really amazed me is the fact that she said he hasn’t even talked to him about sex and yet he was already displaying behavior as if she did.
The contents of the sext message was something along the lines of the little girl giving her son a blow job and making him “feel good.” It has come to my attention that kids are experiencing sex and sexual encounters at younger and younger ages but parents are failing to have this important discussion with them before these encounters can even happen.
When I begin to have children, I hope that if my kids are going to “experiment” with sex, that they are at least knowledgeable to know how to protect themselves and to know that the option to wait until they are ready is always acceptable. I want to be like my fiancé’s mother. She told him about sex when he was four years old and continued you to teach him as his development increased. At least then, they are learning the basics of anatomy and an almost cartoonish explanation of sex, but at least they know it.
Statistics state that the age group with increasing incidences of STD’s are children around 10-15. Teenage pregnancies increase at an alarming rate each year because these kids go into sex not knowing or understanding that pregnancy is ALWAYS an option when you have unprotected sex. Young women constantly get raped, molested or forced into sex because they learn from their ignorant friends that to have a guy you have to sleep with him. Young boys think that to be a man you HAVE to have sex and demean women because of what they see on TV or hear from others.
In some European countries and even in some northern states, the school system has the job of informing and protecting children. The earlier we inform these kids, the more knowledgeable citizens they can be. The more knowledgeable they are the less problems we have in our society.
I think a good age to teach kids about sex is when the FIRST signs of curiosity peaks. Like when they wonder about their genitals…
What do you think? When is a good age to teach kids about sex? Talk to me…
&hearts Tesha
I think it depends on the child. My now 9 year old has all the basics. We have discussions and there are books that go into details about body parts and how sex and relationships SHOULD work. I stress to my girls that there is an order about things despite trends. I show them daily what happens when they put themselves in situations that are "out of order". My teen has learned the hard way. I hope my almost 10 year old daughter will find it easier to trust what I say to be true and not learn it the hard way as my teenager has decided to do.
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