To all the parents and guardians on a mission to find the perfect way to give their child their first puberty and sex talk, we’ve got you. We have come up with a list of the most important topics we believe should be a part of every child who menstruates’ puberty talk. Every article in this series will explain each idea in detail so that you can use it as a resource while giving the talk. (Disclaimer: this series is simply an aid to help you have a meaningful conversation with your child as opposed to a replacement for the talk itself.)
The purpose of this puberty talk is to inform and educate young children about what to expect while going through puberty and how to cope with it. It also helps prevent your child from internalising inaccurate information that can come from various sources – from the internet to an enthusiastic classmate. This will make the transition to adolescence as smooth as possible because, as we all know, it is quite a bumpy road.
After much deliberation and planning, we decided to write the series for parents of children around the ages of 10 to 11. By then, they are old enough to understand this information while being on the cusp of puberty, which is when this information will be relevant to their lives.
We understand that you might be hesitant about reading an article by teenagers. I mean, we are basically kids ourselves, what do we know? However, I am here to convince you otherwise. As teenagers close to graduating puberty school, we have just gone through the emotional rollercoaster that is adolescence. Thus, we know exactly what your child will go through, breast pains and all, and may be able to impart some knowledge on what could be seen by adults as “Come on, everyone knows this stuff!” There are many things we learnt growing up that would have been so much more useful had we known it earlier and we would love to share those tidbits and advice with you.
Here is a list of all the articles we will be writing. They will be sequenced as written below:
An Introduction to Puberty I: How Does the Body Change?
An Introduction to Puberty II: An Emotional Rollercoaster
Period Science
New Apparatus and a Change in Wardrobe
Emotion and mood swings
An Introduction to Sex I: What is “Genitalia”?
An Introduction to Sex II: The Nitty-Gritties
An Introduction to Sex III: Consent as a Right
What is Vaginal Hygiene?
Separating Your Societal Ideals from Your Personal Beliefs
We hope you enjoy reading the series.
Until next week,
Tihara from the REDefine Team
Featured artwork by Anaanya Poddar
The REDefine Campaign 