Students and teenagers in Northeast Louisiana are receiving misinformation about sexual health from the internet, TV and other unreliable sources. Merion Sanderson, a registered nurse and sexual health instructor at the Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana, talks about the importance of properly informing your children about sexual health in today’s society.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On problems related to sexual health with teens and students in Northeast Louisiana
Some of the problems with see are with the misinformation. They’re getting information from different sources online, TV and magazines. They have a lot of misinformation about what’s important for their sexual health. But they have other problems too that their involved in like sexting, online predators and healthy relationships. Things like what is healthy and is not healthy and age appropriate.
On things covered inside the Children Coalition’s Puberty educational class
There’s so many topics to cover in this class. It’s not just about puberty. It’s about anatomy and physiology and biology. The kids in middle school get a lot of these topics in their biology and science classes, but we also talk about consent, healthy relationships and how to communicate with children their age and peers. We also talk about sexual harassment and sexual assault. It’s a really good class, and it covers a lot of topics. We talk STDs, STIs and what is medically accurate for their age group going through puberty and adolescence. That’s the main thing, just making sure they get the right information.
That's the main thing, just making sure they get the right information.
On things covered that is not covered an older teen class
When you talk to older teens, they already know a lot about their bodies. They have already gone through puberty. We cover mainly the changes in their bodies that they are going through because puberty is like an emotional roller coaster for kids. It’s a physical and social roller coaster. They go through so many changes, and a lot of kids don’t know how to handle it. They go through puberty a lot earlier now, so we kind of start with the basics of puberty.
On the hopeful impact for a class like this
The whole impact that we hope to achieve through the Children’s Coalition is to mainly get the medically accurate information out to the community, and hopefully to improve the adolescent health of children in our area. Also, let the parents be aware and get the information to the parents so they can talk to the kids because the information needs to also come from the parents, relatives, schools and outside sources like the Children’s Coalition.
On how to find out more information
You can definitely call the children’s Coalition at 323-8775.
"Time to Talk" is produced with the Children's Coalition for Northeast Louisiana and BayouLife Magazine.
