A muslim child becomes responsible for his actions as he hits puberty. At the same time, his attraction for the opposite sex starts to grow. We live in an age where shamelessness is everywhere, you can not even avoid it.

Issues revolving around a child's se.xual education have long been considered taboo topics in many muslim homes and communities, but given the rate of social decadence, we can not afford to leave our children on auto-pilot.

Puberty is a very funny time in the life of a youth, but it is also the time that he becomes accountable for his actions. The age varies from kid to kid, but the outcome is the same, their outlook on the world changes.

The below are practical ways of helping your child imbibe islamic values on s.exuality.

1. Start talking to your child early, when the male child is about 11. Start talking about marriage and what it entails. This should be an ongoing discussion. As the female child develops, she begins to get attention from men, it is important that she is made aware of that and taught how to handle unwanted attention.

2. Do not flip out if your boy tells you he finds a girl attractive. It is a natural thing. Allah tells us that much. Feeling hungry in ramadan is not a sin. It is a good thing that your child opens up to you, flipping out would ruin that. Help them understand that it is natural but emphasise the right way of doing things.

3. Know what your children watch. Every cartoon and show. Unfortunately, cartoons today have imbedded romance and all kinds of things. Know the problematic characters and talk about them. It is an excellent opportunity to teach.

4. Quranic education is basic education, you should have gone through all of the quran with them by the time they are done with high school.. That way, they know the quranic position on all issues.

Start talking to a boy about marriage at age 11? Seriously?

Yep, this is about the period when their world view begins to change.

Lay the right foundations, you will increase the details as they grow older.

I was expecting more @tbaba.

@mac
Why not? It's not as if you'll be telling them everything. But it's very ok to talk to kids about marriage. 11yrs is even high. My daughter of 4.8yrs returned from school recently and started explaining to me the difference between a monogamous and polygamous marriage. I was astounded, not only because of the intelligence she displayed in differentiating and explaining but also at the fact that they're been taught such at that age.

An 11year old girl was discussing with me. She told me with so much determination the kind of man she'd like to marry and the kind of marriage she wants. She added that she'd ensure she marries someone that'll be her best friend. At that age, I didn't know anything about marriage not to mention things I want and don't want in marriage.

If you think your child is still too young to be taught these things, they'll learn (at times wrongly) from the media and their peers outside. So it's better to come to their level, interact much with them, be their friends' friend, discuss with them as much as is necessary without stirring up the wrong instincts in them. This is when you as a parent can have a peace of mind as regards your children.

I typed this on my phone so I just summarised the main ideas.

Your points are spot-on

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whose better off teaching kids and teenagers abt sex education parents or teachers? And what shoukd be the necessary topics to be discussed and why??