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Now the National
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) wants
advice on emotions and relationships to be made a compulsory part of
sex education in schools.
As the law stands, schools
in England only have to teach the biological aspects of sex.
The NSPCC says
nearly fifty children a day were calling its helpline because they
felt pressured to have sex. One can understand how badly emotions
education is needed when the NSPCC reports that between
April 1, 2007 and March 31
this year, 5,985 girls and 503 boys - including children as young as
twelve - called Childline to discuss worries about pregnancy.
Biological information
cannot help children and teenagers deal with emotional issues such as
love, hate, being part of the gang, being left out because one won’t
participate in sex, not being liked, the hurt caused to self and
others, and the disaster (for most) when teenage years are lost
because one becomes a mum and dad.
It takes considerable skill
in an emotions education class to ask questions that get youngsters to
dig deep and come up with their own answers. In my own limited
experience, they know what is right and wrong – not so much in a moral
sense- but about treating another person with respect.
At the time of writing, the
teaching of sex education in England is being reviewed. I would like
to see the biological aspect kept to 20% or less and teachers trained
to facilitate sensitive but very worthwhile dialogues on how teenage
sex hurts oneself and others.
There is so much more work to be done to get clear exactly what
emotions education is and how it can be practised. If you found this
and other free articles on the site useful it would be great if you
would
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