Sexuality education is a lifelong process, as sexuality is an important aspect of all people’s lives. However, a person’s attitudes and values connected to sexuality are formed during childhood and adolescence and therefore age-appropriate sexuality education must start in early years. Sexuality education means learning about the cognitive, emotional, social, interactive and physical aspects of sexuality. The importance of an appropriate and fact-based sexuality education is in our information-age not less, but even more important than ever. Modern media is accessible to ever younger children and with them also the content which might not always be age-appropriate. The view of sexuality provided by such sources is often unbalanced and even degrading to different parts of society (for example woman, people with different sexual orientation etc.). Additionally, the need for sexuality education is rising also because we have to consider the migration of new population groups, with different cultural traditions, to Europe as well as the spread of HIV/Aids, concerns of sexual abuse of children and also the changing attitudes and behaviors of today’s youth concerning sexuality. Although schools are the main providers of such education in Europe, we have to take into account considerable differences between countries, and even among cities and rural areas in one country – thus, the quality of sexuality education European children receive differs hugely. Therefore, it is very important to help parents provide high-quality sexuality education also at home. This means providing them with reliable, fact-based information about developmental stages, appropriate topics and approaches as well as proven tips to discuss these subjects (also if they are “shy” in this respect). Comprehensible and high-quality information and materials in this field is missing in most EU countries and our project aims at answering to this need. Through the collaboration of highly experienced partners we will develop a website about sexuality education for parents, containing also an app which will inform children about important topics concerning their bodies, emotions and respect in a funny, playful and age-appropriate way. The portal will offer the following tools and materials: 1. A Handbook for parents “Fostering sexuality education at home” 2. Application for children “My body, my emotions” 3. Further information for parents (info points, support groups etc.) 4. Further links and literature tips By fulfilling its objectives our project will contribute to fostering diversity, respect and equality. It will provide parents and children with information based on the principles of gender equality, respect for one’s own and the feelings and bodies of others, understanding of people with different sexual orientation etc. It will provide parents and children with valuable information which will prevent ill-health and uninformed decisions, which may have long lasting consequences on their physical, psychological and economic wellbeing. The app and materials, which will be developed by our project partners, are highly innovative in approach and the content is in line with EU and WHO recommendations for this subject. We will provide open education resources, freely available on the internet in a six European languages, including smaller languages, in which such information is especially rare.
The portal EduSkills+ "My body, my emotions" and the app “This is me!” aim to provide parents and children’s other persons of reference with a broad knowledge of gender diversity, role models and sexuality in an objective, easy to understand, accessible and fact-based manner, making it clear that these three aspects should not be viewed in isolation from one another. For children and young people to develop essential skills to enable them to self-determine their sexuality and their relationships at the various developmental stages, it is important that they and their adult persons of reference know about their bodies at an early stage as well as discuss myths and competently deal with stereotypes and prejudices. Considering different discourses in the European countries, we aimed to provide parents with competent support enabling them to answer children's questions in a simple way. The app for children “This is me!” interlinks different relevant topics, adapted to children's worlds and life experiences. Especially during puberty, young people are often reluctant to openly ask questions about bodily processes. Therefore, the answers are provided to them in the app.
Sexuality education is a lifelong process. However, attitudes and values connected to sexuality are formed during childhood and adolescence and therefore age-appropriate sexual education must start in early years. Sexuality education means learning about the cognitive, emotional, social, interactive and physical aspects of sexuality. Besides school, parents are the main providers of sexuality education to their children. Their approaches and attitudes in the formative years help shape children’s understanding of their bodies, emotions, relations to others as well as self-esteem and self-respect. Although this might not pose any problems in the beginning, many parents start to question their role and what is normal, when children’s curiosity about sexuality rises and “uncomfortable” questions emerge. Often, parents don’t feel comfortable answering such questions. However, this means that they miss important opportunities to help their children develop a positive and healthy attitude towards their bodies and sexuality. General approach of many parents is to leave sexual education to schools.