How Does Comprehensive Sex Education Affect You As A Parent?

There’s something becoming more understood as time goes on that every parent ought to know about.

Specifically, the true impact comprehensive RSHE (Relationships, Sex and Health Education) has on our kids.

Now, if you’re like a lot of parents, then you might be thinking about RSHE in terms of teaching kids about the physical act of sex. Some people even think that kids shouldn’t learn about their own bodily anatomy and functions or use the correct terminology for their genitals. This usually comes from a lack of education from their own childhood, and this resistance and embarrassment is then passed to their children.

I’ve personally seen the damage that can be caused when children aren’t provided with good RSHE, and I’ve coached a lot of adults who have been left with negative thoughts about themselves, unrealistic standards of what a healthy relationship looks like, and even been vulnerable to abuse due to the lack of understanding.

Instead of undoing the damage as adults, we need to reduce the chance of it happening in the first place.

So let me share with you now the top five ways RSHE impacts you…and more importantly, your child. Starting with some obstacles RSHE helps overcome.

• They are exposed to more representations of sex and sexuality through media and social media.

RSHE explains that what they are seeing in the media is entertainment and not a reflection of true life. This is in relation to relationships, self imagine and emotional regulation.

• They may have a one dimensional view of what a relationship should look like.

RSHE helps them understand the different types of family dynamics, promote diversity & find representation and acceptance for their own realities. This in turn helps them form more compassion for others.

• They may experiment with peers to find out how things work.

RSHE gives them more appropriate information which research shows delays their first sexual experience, taking away the unknown element & encouraging them to have conversations with the appropriate people before experimenting unsafely.

• They may feel embarrassed talking about their bodies, even when something is wrong.

RSHE helps them understand, honour and accept their bodies as they are without embarrassment. Leading to them having better boundaries around when and where they can be touched.

• On the other side, you might have some conversations that make you uncomfortable.

RSHE gives them the platform to develop the skill to think critically, foster more direct communication with peers and adults & understand their rights.

I want to point out that the above five points aren’t just my opinion. These are learning outcomes from the RSHE curriculum from Ofsted.

If you’re finding the topic of RSHE uncomfortable, I would recommend taking a moment to consider what RHSE information you missed as as child, and how this affected you growing up.

In order to avoid our children dealing with the same issues we need to educate them and make it normal to talk about these subjects. As an extra step, you can also refresh your own knowledge of RSHE to support these key lessons at home.

Fortunately, most parents will view this push for comprehensive RSHE as good news. That’s usually because they have already seen the troubles that come along with the incorrect or missing information in their own lives.

Bottom line?

RSHE isn’t teaching our kids about sex. It is teaching them to be comfortable in their own skin, understand that there is no set version of ‘normal’ and ultimately countering the damaging messages they receive every day through the media.