We know more than what you think: Parents’ understanding, through their children’s drawing, the importance of sexual education
Methods: As an attempt to provide a more child-orientated research approach to data collection, a sample of 300 elementary school students between 9 and 11 years of age (from grades 5 and 6) were asked to answer, with a drawing, the questions: – What would happen to you, if you were pregnant, and in the case of boys, if somebody were pregnant of you? Maintaining the confidentiality of the drawings, the results were shared with the school staff and parents during a parents’ meeting.
Results: The drawings were sorted in categories on the basis of gender, age, content, cognitive competence and emotional responses. The findings revealed that children of this sample have considerable knowledge about pregnancy, and the pregnancy consequences in a child’s life. Among the different subjects, the highlights were concentrated on children’s feelings, parents’ reactions, school dropout, bullying, single parenthood, responsible parenthood, abortion and homeless situations.
Conclusions: The drawing technique allowed the children to actively participate and communicate their thoughts. The content of the drawings identified themes that prove the need to implement scientific programs of sex education in elementary schools. Most parents positively changed their opinion on sex education, after seeing the drawings of children.
