Raising a
child is the most gratifying as well toughest job. It's the duty of
responsible parents to create the awareness of all social issues among
children. There are lots of complex matters all around that are difficult for
children to understand and for adults to explain. Educating children about sex,
HIV/AIDS is very important so that they don't get any erroneous information
from wrong sources. Also look through our other AIDS article.
Here are some tips on how to start the discussion:
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Before initiating the
conversation think about the information you want to discuss with your child
keeping into consideration child's age, prior knowledge and influences, as well
as your own religious and cultural values. Child psychologists think that the
sooner you talk about it to your child the better.
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Assemble all important and
correct information about HIV/AIDS from doctors, friends and informative
websites, so that you can convey accurate and correct information to your
child.
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To initiate you can use the terms
like: "Have you heard about AIDS before? Well, what do you think AIDS
is?" This way, you can discover what she/he already understands and work
from there.
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Be honest and frank with your
child. If you are uncomfortable, they are too while discussing such topics.
Share your feelings and make them comfortable so that they can easily say their
doubts with you. Children's
misconceptions about AIDS can be pretty scary, so it's important to correct
them as soon as possible.
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Exchange your ideas and make the
conversation friendly don't make it like a lecture otherwise your child will
not take any interest. Listen to what they have to say and encourage them to
share their thoughts and feelings.
