PUNCH
As children grow up, their curiosity level increases. They want to know why their bodies are changing and why they react to certain impulses around them. These questions, if left unanswered, remain in their impressionable minds and they will stop at nothing to find answers regardless of where they get them.
Many experts agree that talking to kids about sex can be daunting, but it is necessary. Sex education is a topic many parents would prefer to avoid. But who is best to talk about these things to kids than their parents?
Research shows us that kids and teens who have regular conversations with their parents and caregivers about sex and relationships are less likely to take risks with their sexual health and more likely to be healthy and safe.
A Lagos-based school teacher, Arese Omotayo, said she was shocked when her seven-year-old child asked her when she was pregnant what was inside her tummy.
“I was shocked to my bone. I told him I was having a baby and he asked me how the baby got in there. It made me even more confused. I wished I never said there was something inside. It is difficult to talk to these children about things like this,” she said.
For Mr Titus Daramola, a single father of one, it is even a harder task to tell his 13-year-old son, Dayo, that the reason he has hair in his pubic region is puberty.
“The young man walked up to me and was crying. He said he had hair all over his pubic area and that I should take him to a hospital. I was so embarrassed that my son who would soon finish his Junior Secondary School knew nothing about puberty and why he was growing pubic hair at 13,” he stated in an interview with our correspondent.
