Making loving connections

Today I have a guest post over at Dulce de Leche as part of her wonderful sex education series.

Have you ever wondered how you were going to do “the talk” about “the birds and the bees”. What to say and how, and of course when and how much? We know it’s important that children learn about sex and relationships at home, but how to do it without toe curling embarrassment on both sides?

 Few of us have good examples from our own childhood to follow and we’re aware that if we don’t broach the subject it will be left in the less than capable hands of peers and the media. Nowadays, due to living in such an over-sexualized, titillated culture, the job of “the talk” is not to generally explain anatomy or mechanics, as it was in the past. Contraception and disease are now part of the school curriculum, where kids are told all the reasons not to have sex, to be careful, to watch out for predators. But perhaps the most important parts, the reason why we all want to “do it”, the emotional, hormonal and very human relational aspects of sex are what we can really provide a solid grounding in at home. This is something we are all experienced in. We certainly don’t have all the answers, but we can show how we ourselves try to navigate these crucial paths. Home is where we can make the connections between love and sex, between bodies and feelings, between children and sex. The reason we often struggle with Sex is because we isolate it from its surroundings, we take it out of relationship. Talking about sex is not just explaining reproduction. Sexual education involves learning about our bodies, feelings of love, affection and attraction, companionship, passion, art, the dynamics of interpersonal relationships, self-esteem etc: sex is not just something that happens in bedrooms, its roots are in all aspects of our lives and our world.

Head over to Dulce de Leche to read the rest.