By Samuel Onyekwere
The need to teach children about various parts of their body and their functions, especially the reproductive part has been emphasised. This was the view of experts at media roundtable organized by Development Communications (DEVCOMS), a media-development, capacity-building, non-governmental organization coordinated by experienced journalists.
Throwing more light on this at the media parley, a behavioral management coach, Wemimo Adebiyi, said that most parents do not know how to start and when to start explaining sex and sexuality to their children. In her lecture titled, “Practical ways for introducing adolescents & youths to sexuality and reproductive information”, she said that children should be enlightened on their body components as early as two – five years.
“It is best you start talking with children about sexuality early. You may ask, “How early”? Children are curious about their bodies, being a boy or girl, and different kinds in relationships in very early age. Their curiosity creates a natural opportunity to begin the conversation and start building a respectful relationship. For the young, you can start teaching them the names of their body parts or ask if they know that girls and boys look different” she noted
In her own contribution, Executive Director, Youth Empowerment Foundation (YEP), Iwalola Akin-Jimoh, blamed the high level of crime and other social vices in the country among the youths and adolescents on corrupt environment.
In a lecture titled “Creating a safe space for youth and adolescents in Nigeria (Life skills for adolescents and youths)’’ Akin-Jimoh, who was represented by Tolulope Osope, noted that there are high demands on youths in an environment that is ridden with corruption and so they adopt short cuts in order to measure up. She said that these adolescents have found themselves in an environment where “hard work is no longer rewarded, drug ridden society, parents are no longer available, poverty pervades the land and safe spaces are no longer safe, (schools, homes, and faith based institutions) among others .
She further explained that in order to build a virile society and raise productive adolescents, parents should develop personal relationship with their children as this will help them to know what is happening to their children and what is going on their minds. To create safe space for these wards, Akin- Jimoh believes that parents should learn to take responsibility for their children’s safety, involve them in continuous empowerment on life skills, encourage them to speak up when necessary, identify core values to be upheld in the space and set ground norms and expectations and adopt an anti-discriminatory policy.
YEP defines safe space as place where someone can freely express himself/herself without threat. Her words: “Safe spaces are intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism or potentially threatening actions, ideas or conversations and so everybody must work together to ensure that we preserve the physical, emotional and cultural safety in spaces so that young people can perform optimally.’’
Adebiyi further highlighted that from the age of 10, children should be taught the appropriate names for their body parts. It’s also important to prepare them to make responsible choices whenever they become sexually active. She revealed that research has shown that by the time these young adults get to the age of 19, 70% of them have had sex.
Adebiyi speaks further: “It’s no longer a word, ‘Don’t have sex! So. in addition to conveying what you know about sexual relationships, it’s important to talk with teens about abstinence, preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. 55 abortions rates are reported yearly per 1,000 women, half of which are adolescents, out of unsafe sex which resulted to unplanned pregnancy. Unsafe sex also expose them to Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV with a prevalence of 25 percent among adolescent in the south eastern part of the country and 28 percent in the northern part of the country.”
She therefore advocated that enlightenment about sex education should commence early so that children would know their rights and know where not to be touched and when to complain. In addition, parents should monitor what their children do on social media and know the kind of company they keep.