Sexual Education : The Importance Of Parents And Sex Education

Sex education should be implemented at an early age beginning at the middle school level. A discussion of contraception, the risks of diseases, the risk of becoming an unwed teen parent and the disadvantages of not having an education will help decrease the number of teen pregnancies with future generations. Parents should not feel threatened of having their children learning about sex in class. Parents should feel empowered; it will allow their children opportunities to feel they are able to discuss future topics of sex at home to help promote

The role of educating students about the importance of healthy sexual relationships has fallen hard and fast on public schools. School aged boys and girls are not receiving information from their parents on what decisions they should make in regards to sex. Parents are finding this topic of conversation too taboo to breach and as a result, students are getting what little information they are receiving from school. Less then half of school aged adolescents talk to their parents about sex and abstinence (Smith, 2005).

Parents want their children to practice abstinence for their health and for a healthy marriage, but would prefer schools encourage and teach abstinence. Many parents do not feel comfortable talking about sex and remaining abstinent . “Some researchers have found that when parents talk to their adolescents about sexuality, adolescents are more likely to delay intercourse and if they have intercourse, to use contraception and have fewer partners.” (Hutchinson Mk, Jemmott JB 3rd, Jemmott LS, Braverman P, Fong GT, 2003) ; “when parents talk about these topics , they tend to lecture possibly inhibiting open communication. “( Jaccard J, Dittus PJ Gordon VV, 2000 ) Parents who feel more confident in their communication with their children have an open, healthy and receptive conversation.

(gcapp.org). Three in ten girls in the U.S. become pregnant at least once before age 20; that’s over 750,000 teen pregnancies a year (gcapp.org). By age 18, 70 percent of U.S. females and 62 percent of U.S. males have initiated vaginal sex. (Effective Sex Education). Comprehensive sex education is effective at assisting young people to make healthy decisions about sex and to adopt healthy sexual behaviors. Parents play a big role when it comes to sex education. Speaking to your teen or even child about sex as hard as it may be develops a healthy relationship between parent and child, children are more likely to come to parents about other things such as drugs and alcohol. (aboutkidshealth ). If parents are not talking to there children about sex than they are more likely to get there information from unreliable sources such as there friends and even the

Adolescence is a time in a person’s life for them to discover and grow with who they are; during this time, learning about sex and sexuality are major topics for the adolescents, as well as their parents, to confabulate and embrace who they are. Adolescents should discover their sexual preference and further their education about themselves, along with their parents. If adolescents are not taught about sexuality and being sexually active, it can lead to either good consequences or bad consequences, it depends on the individual. They need to be taught about the risks and benefits about being sexually active, and how to emotionally and physically handle it.

The topic of sexuality is one that many parents avoid explaining to their children. However, learning about sexuality should be a normal part of child development. Parents need to be open and honest when answering their child’s questions about sexuality.

“In 2013, a total of 273,105 babies were born to women aged 15-19 years.” (CDC). As these numbers are shocking to many Americans, schools still have not taken the initiative to teach efficient sex education. Although some teenagers are receiving sex education, most are not being taught it in a successful way. Sex education can be explained in two different procedures: comprehensive or abstinence only. The difference between the two is that comprehensive sex education teaches abstinence as a secondary choice, and teens that decide not to wait should be informed on how to use birth control when participating in sexual activity. Comprehensive sex education is a method that should be required in all schools and is the most effective way to keep

“Educators feel apprehensive or unsure in tackling the topics of sex, sexuality, and sexual health. They feel very overawed about where to start or disorderly about what to teach and when to teach it.” (plannedparenthood.org) However, the sex education classes are not for the teachers or the parents; but instead for the children. Adults should not hide behind the bias that states sexual education classes are inappropriate because the objective of the class is to prevent not promote.. Young people should obtain applicable health information to cultivate useful techniques for preserving a flourished lifestyle. Mentors have a duty to not only assist students, but families as well by providing ethical and wide-ranging information in secure and open-minded surroundings so that teenagers can absorb the concept of sexuality in a fit and positive setting.

Starting sex education at a younger age is a sensitive issue. Our society becomes more and more liberal about sexual issues of the younger generations, but sex education in middle schools or from their parents are still the same as it was in the past, giving superficial information to students. Most teachers or parents are not prepared to let their students informed about contraception, because most of them think that students are very naive and they are too young to have sex, which is not true. The fast flow of communication in modern society made the students to be very curious about sex to make them want to carry out, and also the social atmosphere is getting less rigid about their acting

Comprehensive sex education programs get support from parents. “Polls show that parents overwhelmingly favor the comprehensive approach” (Rosenberg 67-71). More than 80% of Americans “support teaching comprehensive” and “believe teens should be taught about birth control and preventing pregnancy” (“Comprehensive”). Some people believe that “sex education should be let up to them [parents] to teach” (“California”), but mostly there is an overwhelming amount of support from parents who want comprehensive sex education for their children. With this kind of support, organizations like Advocates for Youth or American Sexual Health Association can help America’s youth understand and make wise choices about their sexual health.

Some people may believe that it should solely be the parents responsibility to educate their own child. There may be some parents that view sexual activities differently do to their background and would prefer to teach their own children. Although that may be so, there are some children that do not have responsible parents to educate them. In Wilson’s (2010) article, all parents in the study believed that the content of sex education should be based on mental maturation. This meant that staying abstinence should first be taught, but as the student grow and their body changes, it is important to educate them accordingly. According to Grossman (2014), family sexuality communication can reduce teen sex, but parents often lack the knowledge and confidence to educate their child. Comprehensive sex education is the solution for parents that do not have the self-confidence to educate their child. Comprehensive sex education without parental activity produced more positive results than parental activity alone (Grossman, 2014). Typically, parents do not want to promote talking to their kids about sex in fear of promoting sexual activity. The parents may lack resources to educate their child. According to Wilson (2010), 39% of parents felt uncomfortable talking to their kids abut sex, 37% felt that someone else could do it better, and 32% believed that it would encourage

Since comprehensive sex education has little funding but a plethora of support, it could be alleviated through advocates spreading awareness through the community through social media and communication to enlighten individuals on the topic. Therefore, developing a potential curriculum could become possible for local school boards to approve. Many supporters of comprehensive sex education believe that it should start from kindergarten until 12th grade. By doing so, instructors can use behavioral goals and age-appropriate language that is understandable and coherent for the respective age group. Also, there is a large amount of time to cover the necessary topics on sexuality, reproduction, sexual organs since this curriculum would occur for nearly thirteen years of the student’s life. As mentioned earlier, the state and school board direct the type

Parents try to be aware of what their children are doing; however, it is a misconception to think that sexual activity can be controlled at all times. Our society, not biology, declares that teens are not supposed to engage in sex. Teenagers are designed by nature to have sex, are possessed of all the necessary equipment to do so, and have the mental capabilities to hide such behavior from adults. The sex drive is not caused by teachers, contraceptives, or the media. Although well-meant, the notion that parental warnings can make sex less appealing is arrogant and foolish. Teenagers are having sex without permission, and the goal must be to minimize the damage, not look for someone to blame. As adults struggle with controlling the actions of their children, they should protect them at the same time. If children are forbidden to have sex, it is unlikely that they will discuss sexual problems with the very person who told them it is not permissible. There must be options available to them, such as sex education

Sex education is quite a controversial topic in the world of education today. The act of informing young adults about sexual orientation, sexual health, sexual reproduction and the safety precautions in order to stay safe are all things that these young adults should know, but the problem is, who should have to teach them such a controversial topic? Should parents have to overcome the uneasy and uncomfortable feelings they face when mentioning such a topic to their children, or should the responsibility of such a task be confronted by well educated individuals in the school setting? The importance of highlighting the issue of sexual education being a mandatory course necessary for young adults only grows as the pregnancy rate continues increasing, and the age of young adults facing this issue decreases.

As children grow, they accumulate knowledge over the years about a variety of subjects to prepare them for the future. Children learn from parents, schools, life experiences, what they watch and other influences around them, and it can be either positive learning or negative learning. There is one subject that is difficult to teach and have control over because of misunderstandings, lack of teaching, and publicity. Sex education has been a major debate for children under eighteen, because there are some parents that want it taught in schools and others that do not because of different reasons. There are currently eighteen states and the District of Columbia that require schools to provide sex education and thirty-two that do not require