Growth & Development
A Grandparent’s Guide to Sex Ed
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Jennifer Gibson, MA, is also known as “The Sex Lady”—officially now for over 15 years in Greater Victoria!—to the thousands of amazing youth and adults she is lucky to educate and learn with through her job as the Coordinator of Community Education at Island Sexual Health. She’s passionate about making sexuality education as positive, fun and non-cringe-able as possible.
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t comes as no surprise that in the past few years, as many grandparents spend more time with their grandchildren and often in more carecentred roles, many have started asking how they can best support their grandchildren’s sexuality education. Most commonly, grandparents tell me that the BIG questions their grandchildren are comfortable enough to ask, inspire the grandparents to want to learn more. As our society becomes more open, honest and accepting about healthy sexuality, grandparents might feel that they missed opportunities to speak with their own children while they were growing up, and they want to change that with their grandchildren. Sometimes this openness brings concern that sexuality conversations will create more curiosities and confu-
sion for their grandchildren. I am always thrilled to squash these concerns with the fact that global research has repeatedly demonstrated exactly the opposite! In fact, when children are well informed about sexuality, this information satisfies age-appropriate curiosities and becomes a protective factor for their health and safety. I believe the best way for grandparents to begin to support the growth of their grandchildren’s knowledge is to understand the approaches and philosophies their parents are using. Are they using the “all questions are good” approach and allowing children to guide their conversations through questions? Are they sitting down for more directed chats using books as teaching tools (a personal favourite approach that works great for extended families!)? Or are they utilizing safe and factual websites such as those at Amaze.org to provide information? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you as grandparents to understand both the amount of information your grandchildren have received and, most importantly, the tone in which it’s being delivered. You can then support the information that has already been offered and best choose how to grow their knowledge in ways that respect family approaches. Grandparents often share with me that they are surprised (usually pleasantly!) by the specific language their grandchildren are using. Understanding the language which families are using to describe bodies, identities, and relationships is an integral piece for effective education. Sexuality education begins with simple, intentional use of scientific language to describe all areas of the body equally includgrandmag.ca
