Sex education refers to the instruction and awareness on issues relating to the sexuality of human being. These include emotional relations and responsibilities, the sexual anatomy of a human body, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, reproductive health and rights. Common resources and avenues for sex education are parents, caregivers, school sex education programs, social health workers, hospitals and public health campaigns. Sex education is very important in one’s life especially in the lives of adolescents. This is because at that stage, their sexual organs and hormones start developing and they become conscious of their sexuality. Also, at that stage, due to their growing sexuality, they become curious about the opposite sex.
Most schools and social health workers organize programs relating to human sexuality for adolescents but parents play a more moving role in this regard as their provision of first-hand information of sex to their children will aid in shaping the child’s perception about his or her sexuality. However, most parents feel uncomfortable in or are afraid of talking about sexuality with their children because for many parents, the topic of sex never came up when they were growing up so they would not know how to discuss it with their wards and they are not sure what their children need to know and at what age they need to know it. One significant thing a parent can do is to begin a conversation about sex early and continue the conversation as the child grows; this is the best sex education strategy because it helps parents to avoid giving one big and likely uncomfortable talk when the child reaches the adolescence stage. Parents must make it a point to discuss sex matters with their children because if they do not teach the children about sex, they will learn about it from somewhere else. Thus, it can lead to misinformation from their friends or other sources which are not credible and this can help prevent risky behaviors and social vices when the children grow up.
