By LILIAN OKORO
An NGO, Adicare Rehabilitation Home, has advised parents to make it a duty to educate their girl-child about sex early.
Its Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Veronica Ezeh, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Friday.
Ezeh said that exposing the girl-child to early sex education would adequately prepare and equip the girl to deal with sex challenges when she grew up.
She said that most parents felt shy to discuss sex education with their grown up daughter, not to talk of the girl-child.
According to her, most parents feel discussing about sex education with a girl-child is an indication that the child will grow up to flirt and be wayward early in life.
She advised that people should shun such belief, saying that early sex education was the best and should be encouraged.
“It will help to build the resilience a child needed to sustain living,” the expert said.
She, therefore, urged parents, especially mothers to always engage their girls in sex discussion so that they would not learn it from peer groups with negative consequences.
“There is no crime in mother teaching her daughter or discussing sex with her daughter.
“Making her to understand the implication of indulging in early sex is very important.
“Teaching girls/children about sex is not the same as encouraging them to have sex, and the consequences of failing to provide girls and boys access to sexual education are much too severe and negative.
“The earlier the sex education is given at home, the earlier the children are able to establish correct concepts on sex and the easier the parents can handle the situation.
“Mothers have big roles to play in this aspect; they should not wait for their daughters to learn from the peers or schools where they can be misled,” she said.
Ezeh further advised mothers to ensure that proper sex discussion was established with their daughters early in order to prevent them from becoming victims and to prevent sexual abuse.
According to her, earlier sex orientation for a girl is necessary as the social media has widened and exposed children of this generation.