Sex education goes down a storm

It’s official: you are your child’s sex educator! That’s how the government defined parents in its Sex And Relationships Education guidance from the year 2000.

Whether you’re making a conscious effort to have open, honest conversations at home or firefighting tricky topics when they come up, you’ve been teaching your child all along how you feel about bodies, love, sex and relationships through your actions and attitudes.

There’s one day a year that publicly acknowledges these private talks we have with our kids.

RSE Day, held on 25 June, celebrates the importance of talking openly about relationships & sex education (RSE) topics both at home and in school.

This year parents, teachers, educators and organisations combined forces to create a social-media #RSEtogether storm by posting pictures of a book that’s special to them or their child. The theme: Books I Love About Love.

I chose Hello Sailor by Ingrid Godon, which doubles as a tribute to Pride month because it’s a picture book about a man who lives in a lighthouse waiting – his heart pounding – for his friend Sailor to return so they can travel the world together. Though the LGBT+ aspect of their love is more subtle than spelled out (well, the book is 20 years old), it’s a sweet story.