Many research-based pdf versions of sex education articles are available online and Eduonwheels is simply ready to deliver the best blog posts on sex education of the same standard and quality as those of pdf articles and also in Seasons 1, 2, and 3 in texts, the movies are seen online on Netflix and other online video-streaming platforms nonetheless.

In Sex Education Season 1 in Text, we defined sex education, sexuality education, and sexual health education and stated the difference between the three concepts in Sexual and Reproductive Health Education. In Season 2 in Text, we discussed the approaches, forms, and types of sex education, and in Seasons 3a and 3b in texts; we dealt with sex education for babies and toddlers, aged 0-2 years, and sex education for preschoolers and kindergarten children, 2-5 years respectively.

In this Sex Education blog post Season 3c, you shall find:

Why Childhood sexuality education is more beneficial than adolescent sex education

Is Sexuality Education for school-aged children about having sexual intercourse?

Why you must give sex education to children

Sex and Sexual Health Education for School-aged Children

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Sexuality by Preschoolers and kindergarten children

Importance of sex education to school-aged children

Why Childhood sexuality education is more beneficial than adolescent sex education

Firstly, sex education is an on-going process with short and frequent interactions and should not be a big, one-off conversation in a child’s early stage in life and should preferably be started at the stage the child is a baby or toddler. By the time parents deliver a big, one-off sex education conversation, the child will have already gotten information and misinformation from their peers and the media.

Having open sex education with infants and children is healthier and safer in the long run. This does not necessarily mean that the process is easy or without awkward moments.

Older children’s and adolescent youths’ interest in sexuality abounds during puberty. Sexuality issues your older children, and adolescent youths are interested in include sexual intercourse puberty, menstruation, reproduction, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), contraception, unplanned pregnancy, abortion, homosexuality, and premarital sex. These are not foundational topics or part of the sex education curriculum for children.

The more pre-teens, adolescents, and other young people get interested in the above or learn such practices from peers or see sexual images in the media, the more they are likely to engage in risky sexual behaviours at a younger age. However, one of the objectives and aims of childhood sex education is not for children to become promiscuous or become sexually active at the adolescent stage. At-home childhood sex education reduces their engagement in risky sexual activity.

Is Sexuality Education for school-aged children about having sexual intercourse?

Sex education for kids. Two children in wedding attire trying to kiss each other mouth-to-mouth. Image by yasioo from Pixabay

Is sexuality education for school-aged children about having sexual intercourse? Not at all! We have reiterated in Sex Education Seasons 3a and 3b posts that age-appropriate and evidence-based sex education to children is not teaching them how to have sexual intercourse but how they can care for their body and keep to good and proper sexual health with regards to their feelings about bodies and affection towards others as well as having healthy intimacy and relationships.

Why you must give sex education to children

If parents do not teach their children about sex and sexuality, then they will learn about it from somewhere else, and an opportunity to instill family values may be missed.

A child’s exposure to information about sex begins much earlier than many parents imagine. Not speaking with children about sex means parents will have little control over what and how they learn about sex.

Having these discussions on sex education early will prepare them for the normal healthy sexuality changes that will happen during puberty or when they experience sexual maturity.

Sex and Sexual Health Education for School-aged Children

Sex education for kids. Image credit: raelcanada.org

School children should get age-appropriate and evidence-based infancy or childhood sex education.

A child’s sex and sexual health education is better started at his or her infant stage when the baby or toddler becomes sensitive to the happenings in the environment and starts and started making use of his senses as well as coordinating simple motor actions.

This does not mean that sex education cannot start at a later childhood stage of life if it was missed at infancy or if the child’s growth and development slowed. Whichever, infancy or childhood, is okay but should not be delayed till the adolescence stage. The child may show either unacceptable and risky sexual behaviour or learn sexuality wrongly from the media, peers, or somewhere else if she gets to that stage without age- or development-appropriate and evidence-based infancy or childhood sex education.

School children must not indulge in risky sex education

Some of the points outlined here have been mentioned under Sex, Sexuality and Sexual Health Education Sex education for babies and toddlers and for preschoolers and kindergarten children. That notwithstanding, a school-aged child must be acquainted with the following knowledge about healthy sexuality.

1. Parents must understand that early, honest and open communication during childhood sex education is very important, especially when the child grows into adolescence, and give it. Starting a sex education conversation early and continuing with that conversation as the child grows is the best sex education strategy. These conversations are easiest when they come out of a life experience, like seeing a pregnant woman or a baby.

2. As children’s first source of information about sex, parents should communicate rightful and timely information to their understanding. Understanding correct information can protect children from risky sexual behaviour as they grow up.

3. A school-aged child must be able to identify his body parts and their functions including the sex organs (both males and females) and should mention the names in public or school without feeling shy or embarrassed. The understanding that naming these body parts, including the sex organs, appropriately is normal and can promote a child’s self-confidence and a positive body image when with other children and youths.

4. Children should be able to state what makes boys different from girls

5. Do not allow children to masturbate. Find out the root cause of masturbation in a child and help him deal with it.

6. Children should not be allowed to touch their private body parts or sex organs without any just cause or other children to touch them at all. Some school children have the habit of pulling at their penises and touching or rubbing their vaginas. On the other hand, your children should also learn to ask before they touch someone else (e.g., hugging, tickling) and should start to learn to understand boundaries. An example is when a girl takes a step away as a signal for space.

7. School children must keep their bodies and body issues private especially when it concerns their sex organs. They should know and maintain the principles governing body privacy only show their nakedness in necessary circumstances like during bathing or a pediatrician’s examination or diagnosis.

8. Parents should teach their children how to use the computer and mobile devices safely with regards to online learning about privacy, sexting, nudity and pornography, respect for others in the digital context. Such online use of electronic devices safely will help them not to indulge in risky sexual behaviours. They should be aware of rules for talking to strangers and sharing photos online and what to do if they come across something that makes them uncomfortable.

9. School children should learn the basics about puberty especially about the importance of hygiene and self-care in puberty. They should not only learn about the changes they will experience but about other bodies too. Parents and teachers can start to talk to school children about puberty and how bodies change in puberty well before they experience it.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Sexuality by school-aged children

Sex education for Kids: School children touching a teacher’s baby bump at the same time. Photo by ITV / Rex Features ( 641740II ) Bedenham Junior School 1987 – Sex Education in the classroom. ITV ARCHIVE. Credit: freebritain.wordpress.com

Why do boys have penises and girls vaginas?

The parents should explain that penis is what naturally makes a boy a boy and a vagina is what makes a girl a girl So, tell the children that all boys have a penis, and girls have a vulva.

How do babies get into the mummy’s tummy?

The parents should explain that mummy and daddy held each other in a special way at the right time. The role of sex education in a family or home is for both parents not just for the mothers alone.

When is the right time?

The parents should explain that the right time is when both parents are ready to do so and they know when they are. Children will not know when because they are not mummies and daddies or adults.

How do daddy and mummy hold each other in a special way for babies to get into their mummy’s tummy?

The parent should explain that as daddy and mummy hold themselves, part of daddy’s cells gets into the mummy’s tummy and forms a baby that grows in the mummy’s womb.

For older children (pre-teenagers) growing into adolescence, depending on their level of development, understanding, and interest, the parents can explain that daddy’s sperm cells enter into mummy’s and joins with her ovary (or egg) to form the baby. This is the basics of reproduction in humans.

How did I come into this world?

You grew in your mum’s womb and were let out after becoming a mature baby. You were born a baby.

Why does mum have a bigger tummy? (In case of the protruded stomach due to pregnancy)

The parent should explain that a baby is growing inside the body of the mother, called the womb.

How do babies breathe and eat in their mummy’s womb?

Babies in their mummy’s wombs breathe and eat through their mothers’ placentas and umbilical cords. The placenta carries oxygen and food to the placenta and then to the umbilical cord to the baby.

How will the baby come out and when?

A parent should explain that the baby is growing inside mummy’s womb he would come out from her vaginas after 9 months of growth in the womb while doctors and nurses help get the babies ready for birth. You can specify your expected date of delivery and tell your child. She will be counting down to your delivery date if she knows.

In our other related Family and Health Education posts, you will find:

Sex, Sexuality and Sexual Health Education

Sex-Education-for-babies-and-toddlers-aged-0-2-years

Approaches, Forms, and Types of Sex Education

Sex education for preschoolers and kindergarten children, aged 2-5 years

Importance of sex education to school-aged children

Sex education for kids: A girl and a boy in a locally-made water bath. Image by Kiran Hania from Pixabay

1. Sex education can help children understand that sexuality and reproductive health are healthy parts of life.

2. Children will be quite safe from unruly sexual behaviours and abuses when properly, adequately, and timely given quality sex education. If they know what is appropriate and what is not, they will be more likely to tell you if they experience sexual abuse or when they suffer sexual exploitation from others.

3. Open and honest conversations during sex education when your child is much younger can make later conversations easier and make them adaptable to healthy sexual practices. These early conversations also lay the groundwork for children to make healthier choices about sex when they become adolescents and adults. If such open and honest communication during childhood sex education is properly done, kids are more likely to speak with parents about all the other trials and challenges of adolescence, such as anxiety, depression, the use of drugs and alcohol, sexual relationships, and other sexual matters.

4. Sex education can help school children to feel more comfortable about sex and sexuality. Sex education helps kids understand the body parts and their functions including the sex organs. It helps them feel positive and talk about them; take responsibility for sexual feelings, and communicate intimate relationships, health issues, injuries, or sexual abuses when they become older, which promotes self-confidence and a positive body image.

5. School children should have a basic understanding that there is a range of gender expression – some people are heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual and the difference between them; and that gender identity is not determined by a person’s genitals but by being males and females. They should also know the roles of sexuality in intimacy and relationships and if sex should be part of a relationship.

6. Sex education also provides an opportunity to instill your family values in your kids. For example, if a family teaches that sexual intercourse should be saved for marriage, then the children will practice that family value down the generations continuously provided the teaching is still maintained.

7. Children learn sexual socialization through quality sex education by learning healthy skills, attitudes, values, ideas, and patterns of sexual behaviour. For example, a child should also learn to ask before they touch, hug, or tickle someone else.

This blog content on ‘Sex Education for School-aged Children, aged 5-8 years’ is categorized under Health Education

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