A child taking the advice of trained and informed mental health professions that they are not ready to learn about something, say human sexuality, might preserve their emotional development.
Perhaps, but I’m skeptical that anyone’s emotional development is really harmed by learning about human sexuality at an early age provided it’s not done in a particularly shocking way. Sure, plenty of kids find it discomforting, and don’t want to think about their parents “doing it,” but does it cause lasting psychological harm? Without actual research backing up that conclusion, my initial guess would be “almost never.”
Data point: I used to take books out of the adult section of the library as a fairly young child (8-9 years old) and though I was a little baffled by the sexual content, I don’t remember finding it at all disturbing. I’ve been told that I now have an unusually open attitude to sex, though I’m still a little baffled by the whole phenomenon.
At most, people learn which things they’ve heard aren’t true about sexuality from school. Peers and media tell one what there is to know at a young age, if untrue things besides.
It was more a template of hazardous information than an object level factual claim. Feel free to insert anything you would keep away from a child to protect their innocence. A number of shock sites come to mind.
Perhaps, but I’m skeptical that anyone’s emotional development is really harmed by learning about human sexuality at an early age provided it’s not done in a particularly shocking way. Sure, plenty of kids find it discomforting, and don’t want to think about their parents “doing it,” but does it cause lasting psychological harm? Without actual research backing up that conclusion, my initial guess would be “almost never.”
Data point: I used to take books out of the adult section of the library as a fairly young child (8-9 years old) and though I was a little baffled by the sexual content, I don’t remember finding it at all disturbing. I’ve been told that I now have an unusually open attitude to sex, though I’m still a little baffled by the whole phenomenon.
At most, people learn which things they’ve heard aren’t true about sexuality from school. Peers and media tell one what there is to know at a young age, if untrue things besides.
It was more a template of hazardous information than an object level factual claim. Feel free to insert anything you would keep away from a child to protect their innocence. A number of shock sites come to mind.