At this young age, it is especially important that children develop a healthy sense of their own bodily integrity. As such, arbitrary rules regarding nudity such as “It is always bad to be naked” can cause unintentional damage by promoting an underlying sense of shame and even loathing.
Parents, your children are constantly surrounded by sexualized messages and images. Many of them are teaching your child lessons about sexuality and interactions between people that are misleading, incomplete and unhealthy. Real emotional intimacy is rarely portrayed. It is so important for you to talk to your children about the messages they see every day so that you can be their first, best source of information. Set aside time to talk with your child and make it a priority. It is vital that you share your personal or family standards about pornography in the course of this lesson. This is just one of many, many discussions you should have with your child, and you may even feel the need to break this lesson into several to make sure you cover everything.
For further information and super simple discussions on this and many other related topics, check out , . Topics include: healthy relationships, anatomy, predators, intimacy, and much more! Or check out How to Talk to Your Kids About Pornography.
