Children are growing up faster than ever. Are there ways we can we stop them? Yes and no. There is more sex talk in the playground, children see sexualised images on TV, on the side of buses, magazines etc. Some of it is out of our control!

There seems to be more of it around than when I was growing up. There are so many new words to learn which the children revel in knowing and of course ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is out at the cinema at the moment. My children asked me if they could go and see it. They don’t have any idea what it is about. They have seen the posters though and know there is something ‘grown up about it’.

We cannot shield our children from the images they see and we cannot follow them around either so they are protected from hearing or seeing sexual content.
What we can do to help our children understand sexual content is:

Talk to our children about what they are seeing.
Make them also want to talk to you about what they are seeing i.e. be approachable
Discuss the new words they are hearing and learning and making sure they know the correct meaning of them.
Ask them what they know.
Educate them not to use words that are vulgar and crude that they hear and why they are vulgar.
Make sure they are watching or playing age appropriate TV, films and games.
Be aware of the language you use and remember that they DO overhear things.
Put parental controls on phone and internet devices.
Educate them in the difference between women and men they see in the media and real people.
Encourage them to ask questions.

Though we cannot completely shield our children from sexual content, we can help them to process and understand what they do pick up by practicing these tips.