One of the bottom lines of parenting is not just raising obedient, or even happy kids, but rather raising responsible adults who love God.
The way your kids love God has a profound effect on how they see the world and the way they see themselves. It will impact how they view some of the critical issues every parent will encounter through their parenting journey, like sex, technology, health, and faith.
This month, we want to focus a little bit on sexual integrity. You may be asking, why do I even need to think about sexual integrity for a preschooler? Because you always have to keep the end in mind. If we want our kids to grow up with sexual integrity, we have to start even now, teaching our kids to guard their potential for future intimacy through appropriate boundaries and mutual respect.
Your role, as it relates to guiding your kid toward sexual integrity, will continually redefine itself through each phase of your child’s life, but in preschool, a parent’s role is to introduce them to their body. You can start by teaching your kid the names of their body parts, defining privacy, talking positively about their body and acknowledging differences between boys and girls.
You might be thinking . . . body parts? We’re supposed to tell preschoolers the actual name of their body parts?! The truth is, when we teach preschoolers the proper name for all their body parts, they tend to be more comfortable talking about issues with us.
It’s also important to define privacy for preschoolers. Just because they know the names for their body parts doesn’t mean all parts were created equal. Your kids may shock you with their openness at first, but gently remind them that privacy matters. As a parent, it’s okay to say, “Private parts should be private.”
At this phase, remember to acknowledge the differences and how wonderfully God made them. You can say things like:
“God made your body, and He sees that it’s very good.”
“God created boys and God created girls.”
In the preschool phase, your focus is to introduce your child to the body God created uniquely for them. This is a critical step for kids to develop a healthy view of their bodies and sexuality in the phases to come.
