Is it harmful if the parent’s answers are a little more than what a child can understand?

Parents worry a great deal as to whether this knowledge will harm the child. Though we live in a conservative society, scientific knowledge appropriate to the age of the child will not harm the child while ignorance may.

It is better to give the child the basic information asked for in a simple, factual and loving manner. Even if the parent occasionally replies a little more than what the child can understand, there is no harm because this will help in leaving the door open for further questions.

Does giving sex education stimulate urges and sexual desires leading to increase in unwanted pregnancies and venereal diseases?

No. Sex education does not stimulate urges and sexual desire. In fact it satisfies one’s curiosity with appropriate and correct information enabling one to recognize one’s sexuality and sexual orientation. As mentioned by Milton I. Levine at Cornell University Medical College in New York “There is no evidence whatsoever that sex education is harmful, that it excites curiosity or stimulates sex urges and desires. On the contrary, there is ample evidence that it does help in gaining a wholesome attitude towards sex and understanding of the normal sex attitudes, roles and relationships”. He further states that “ it may aid our boys and girls to learn to direct their sex impulses with more knowledge and intelligence, to make a correct choice between operating codes of heterosexuality and homosexuality and to recognize and understand those men and women with sex desires and urges which are deviant”. In fact, it has been observed that in countries where proper sex education is given, the number of cases of unwanted pregnancies and venereal diseases have reduced considerably.