According to the National Campaign to End Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 95% of all Americans have sex before marriage, and 2 of every 4 kids under the age of 17 are sexually active. There’s no way around the fact that young people are having sex. But, lack of education and shame around seeking resources may be setting them up to engage in risky behavior.
The Department of Health states that 1 in 4 teens contract a sexually transmitted disease each year, and less than 50% of them have ever been tested. Although the rate of abortion among U.S. women is currently at its lowest since Roe v. Wade, The Atlantic reports, Black women are almost five times more likely to have an abortion than white women according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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It appears that there needs to be some better education on prevention, protection and of options after conception. Many school districts are starting to teach sex education as early as kindergarten. “This school level may appear to be too early for such a sensitive topic. However, with a slightly different focus, this type of early intervention potentially can reduce risky sexual behavior in later childhood and adolescence,” says LaKisha Mixon, M.S., M.A. of the Joseph J. Peters Institute. Mixon explains, “Developmentally, at the ages of 5 or 6, a child is unable to comprehend concepts such as cause and effect, time or comparison. Therefore, some aspects of sexual education in kindergarten such as contraceptive use to prevent pregnancy or contracting a sexually transmitted disease would be misunderstood by a child of this age. A child in kindergarten may not developmentally be able to comprehend the differences between gender, sexual attraction, or risky versus unrisky sexual behavior.”
Appropriate topics at such an early age, instead, could address inappropriate touching (e.g., good touch vs. bad touch), what a child can do or say if touched inappropriately, the need for consent to be touched, the ability to say someone is too close, or bathroom behavior such as peeping under stalls while another child is using the bathroom.
“As clinicians and parents, we want to maintain the curiosity of our children, and at the same time shape our children’s curiosities in positive and developmentally appropriate ways,” says Mixon.
What are your thoughts? Do you think children should be taught about sex ed at an earlier age?
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