Sex Education at Home
Sharvari Joshi | Apr 04, 2007
43-year-old Rajani Tipnis still remembers her eighth standard class vividly…
"That year built an unseen wall between boys and girls - for boys, it was a mystery why every few days a girl, with a mixture of shame and fear on her face, would be taken by the teacher to the staffroom, sometimes even sent home. It was a hush-hush affair. Finally I realised what it all was, when I, too, got my first period while at school. Forget being prepared, none of us even knew what was wrong with us," she says.
"That year built an unseen wall between boys and girls - for boys, it was a mystery why every few days a girl, with a mixture of shame and fear on her face, would be taken by the teacher to the staffroom, sometimes even sent home. It was a hush-hush affair. Finally I realised what it all was, when I, too, got my first period while at school. Forget being prepared, none of us even knew what was wrong with us," she says.
Today, a mother of 15-year-old twin daughters, Rajani is finding it difficult to broach the subject of safe sex to them. "Sex was a taboo subject when we were young. Today's youth is so free and careless about sex that I worry about my daughters. Still it is difficult to have the 'talk'," she admits.
Rajani's dilemma is shared by many parents. How much should we reveal when children innocently ask about babies? What age should we let the children know the truth about sex? When to share the contraception info? How should we discuss AIDS and other threats?
Sexologist Dr. Prakash Kothari believes that sex education should start from home. And no 'birds and bees' stuff either - it should be direct and clear. His advice is that no age is a bad time - any child capable of understanding basic phenomena may ask where babies come from and deserves an honest answer.
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