Death. Sex. Divorce. Abuse. Money. Racism. Caste. Puberty. Misogyny. Homosexuality.
These are just some of the really uncomfortable subjects to explain to children. But precisely for that reason, their information on these topics, need to come from you. Else, there is a scary risk of long-term misdirection. We tend to believe in an innocent world for our children, but the facts are that after the age of five or six, their exposure and comprehension of the world opens up exponentially.
The reasons are simple – verbal communication with friends is now uninhibited, a lot more time is spent without your supervision and access to the internet becomes more independent. Opinions are being developed regardless. So as a parent, you need to put on your adult pants, deal with your ‘my little baby’ cringes and make sure you give them a healthy set of guidelines to build their adulthood on.
Let me give you small examples of exposure that kids face as they grow:
- Girls playing in skirts or dresses and suddenly being taunted by innocent but misguided peers that their ‘panty’ is showing.
- Kids playing doctor-patient and along with illness, death is acted out by a child.
- One child telling another about parents getting a divorce.
- Catching a sit-com on TV where a same-sex couple is shown.
- An older boy showing porn to a younger one.
- An older sibling talking about her period.
- Refusing a beggar at a traffic jam.
All these are real incidents, commonplace and happening to your kids as they grow. The important question is, how has your child internalized these early exposures? Scroll down to find out how you can approach this situation.
Mihika Edwin Menezes
The Lazy Parent
Mansi Zaveri
KSP Team
Hima Bindu
Rati Ramadas Girish
