On the 10th of November, Minister Frank Feighan launched the report Talking about sex and sexual behaviour of young people in Ireland. This is the latest publication from the ESRI/HSE Health and Wellbeing joint research programme which is investigating health data from the Growing up in Ireland national study.
Talking about sex and sexual behaviour of young people in Ireland, focuses on relationships and sexuality education in the home and school settings and on sexual activity of teenagers over the age of 17. There is a wealth of findings within the report that will be of interest to parents and to professionals who work with children and families. Findings of particular note are: children, who reported a good overall relationship with their parents, were more likely to have discussed relationship and sexuality issues; and, children, whose parents started these conversations by age 13, were more likely to have used contraception when they had sex in young adulthood. These findings are in line with international evidence that good relationship and sexuality education is a protective factor for children and young people, and that what parents do and say in providing guidance and support to their children makes a difference.
In acknowledgement of the importance of parents, and of the home as the place where most children first learn about loving, respectful relationships, the HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme has just launched a series of booklets for parents under the branding, ‘Making the ‘Big Talk’ many small talks’ . These booklets aim to encourage parents to talk with their children about relationships and sexuality issues on an ongoing basis from earliest childhood into young adulthood. The booklets currently available are:
- Making the ‘Big Talk’ many small talks: 4-7 years. A rebranded resource, originally published in 2018 as ‘Talking to your young child about relationships, sexuality and growing up’. This includes a parent guide and a short story book, Tom’s Power Flower’ that contains a simple explanation of how babies are made.
- Making the ‘Big Talk’ many small talks: 8-12 years. A booklet addressing the issues of puberty and early adolescence to enable parents to expand on the themes covered in the recently updated Busy Bodies booklet for children.
- Making the ‘Big Talk’ many small talks: Health Ireland Library Collection. A brochure listing the range of commercial and HSE resources on the topic of relationships and sexuality that have been made available through the HI at your library scheme.
The Making the ‘Big Talk’ many small talks collection and the Busy Bodies booklet can be downloaded or ordered hard copy from healthpromotion.ie
Pdfs of the resources and the research report may also be accessed at sexualwellbeing.ie , along with other information for parents and professionals to help them support the healthy relationship and sexuality development of children and young people.