Never too young to learn
When the government recently announced its scheme to reform sex education in Britain’s schools - including at primary level - there were signs that not all parents were happy.
Did it need to change? Aren’t children too young to learn about this sort of thing? In my opinion, such controversy is a good thing. It makes people think about what they want for their children. It also encourages the children themselves to think about what they need to learn as part of the growing-up process.
What many of the newspaper headlines failed to pick up on was the fact that under the scheme, children will be taught sex education not just as an isolated subject. Instead, as part of their personal, social and health education - PSHE for short - they’ll learn within a much wider context.
I have long been a proponent of the idea that preparing to become a parent is something that should be planned well in advance. My recently launched Preparenting Programme encourages people to start thinking about what it means to become a parent before they actually do anything about trying to become one. But what about starting to think even earlier, when those parents-to-be are still at school?
It makes a good deal of sense to put the building blocks for parenthood into place as early as possible. Preparing for parenthood, or preparenting, isn’t just about being physically prepared. Children also need to know how to meet the challenges of becoming parents on a much broader, more emotional level. That means starting with the basics, including how to create good relationships, develop a sense of teamwork, accept responsibilities, and build up a strong set of moral values. Discussions on subjects like these can form a valuable part of the school curriculum, even with younger age groups.
Encouraging children to think about their emotional health and well-being has a number of benefits, all of which can help them to grow up to be better parents and better members of society. They can gain a deeper understanding of themselves, what sort of people they want to be, and what they want to achieve in life. They can also get a better sense of what they would like to be doing in 10 or 20 years time.
Above all, a school education that incorporates such ‘life’ issues will give children the tools to develop a vision of themselves. And that means they’ll be prepared to make their own decisions in life and forge their own future.
© Christine Meadows