Teaching Children About Intimacy

Teaching children about intimacy can be a sensitive topic. For many people, its hard to talk about because it can make you feel uncomfortable. Some people might even put off these types of conversations because we want to keep our children innocent and pure. With the way our world is heading, it is becoming more and more important to teach our children about intimacy and sex at a young age. In California, a law was passed saying that gay history must be included in the curriculum. And that's not all. Some schools are starting to teach sex ed at much earlier grade levels. Sexual abuse is something that can so easily occur with young children. Often times, a child will be abused by someone they know as apposed to a stranger. People such as a cousin, friend, aunt, uncle, grandpa, or even parents and step parents could make this offense. So maybe its hard to teach your 6 year old about intimacy and the sacred parts of their body but personally, I would rather teach them myself than have another classmate or even teacher teach them. I would rather teach them than heaven forbid something horrible happen to them and they not know how to handle it. I want to teach my children the sacredness of it all and the importance of coming to their Mom or Dad with any questions or concerns.

In my Family Relations class today, we learned about a tool that can help parents teach their children about intimacy and not leave anything out. Our church's website, lds.org has a wonderful guide called "A Parent's Guide." This guide covers everything you need to know and teach to your children, at what age to teach certain topics, and how to teach these topics to your child. These topics range from intimacy and the purpose of families on earth to changes and feelings in young children's bodies to mature intimacy with courtship and marriage.

I encourage all parents and future parents to read this guide. http://www.lds.org/manual/a-parents-guide?lang=eng