Best for parents to educate kids about sex

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PARENTS should be open about sex and be ready to discuss it with their children.

In her talk entitled “Parenting Teens on Sex: When to Start and What to Say”, author and certified trainer Jamilah Samian said parents were the best teachers for their children when it came to the topic of sex.

“If one sensationalises sex by cracking dirty jokes, the topic will ultimately turn dirty.

“But if parents talk about sex as it is, it will not become a taboo,” she said.

Lamenting that the word “sex” was all over television and the Internet, parents should be prepared to deal with the inevitable.

Sensitive issue: Jamilah presenting the talk at the seminar.

“Children as young as seven years old have heard of the word sex.

“My own son had asked me what was sex when he was only eight,” she related.

Jamilah, who had teamed up with her husband Ahmad Fakri Hamzah to deliver the talk organised by the Perak Women for Women Society, said teenagers had sex due to curiosity and because they were bored or lacked attention.

There were also times when teenagers did so after succumbing to peer pressure or because they wanted to be like adults, she added.

“The media also has to shoulder some of the blame for why teenagers indulge in sex at a young age.

“To sell a product, the media tends to associate being sexy with being popular.

“This leads to children having a mental image that being sexy and popular equates to power and thus, happiness,” Jamilah elaborated.

Ahmad Fakri said parents must be present in the lives of their children.

“If not, they will turn to their friends for advice or look it up on the Internet,” he said.

Earlier when launching the event, society vice-president Halida Mohd Ali said the talk was aimed at empowering parents and teenagers on the subject.

“Teenagers need to be made aware of the complications caused by pre-marital sex.

“Only by empowering teenagers can we curb unwanted pregnancies and cases of baby dumping,” she said.

With an 11-year-old daughter about to enter teenhood, businessman Aizi Reza Razak and his wife Kay Moris did not mind travelling over 200km from Petaling Jaya to attend the talk in Ipoh.

“I wanted to learn the best way to broach the topic with my eldest girl.

“Although my daughter has yet to raise the issue, I want to be ready when she starts asking,” he said.