Body awareness is the theme for Week6 this year

School and recreation

Brainstorming for Week6

Body awareness is the theme for Week6 as the event marks its sixth year. As in previous years, adolescents in Reykjavík lead the content creation. City school staff are encouraged to prioritize sexual health and offer diverse sex education.

Reykjavík's Gender Equality Academy manages Week6 for Reykjavík City and prepares educational packages for teachers and staff to use in planning and implementation. The four packages contain educational materials tailored to children's age and developmental stage.

It's crucial for children and adolescents to understand their boundaries

Body awareness involves understanding the body's structure and function, how it works, the changes it undergoes, and what influences our emotions and self-image. This also includes recognizing and respecting one's own boundaries, needs, and physical sensations.

Brainstorming for Week6
Unglingar í Reykjavík ákvarða hvaða málefni sé mikilvægast að taka fyrir hverju sinni. Myndin er tekin á einum vinnufundanna sem haldnir voru í aðdragandanum.

There are several reasons why body awareness is important for children and adolescents:

  • Self-image and self-confidence: When adolescents learn to understand their bodies, it helps them build self-confidence and a positive self-image. This empowers them to take responsibility for their own health and well-being.
  • Improved body awareness: By gaining body awareness, adolescents are better equipped to handle the physical and emotional changes that come with their stage of life. They can better understand the connection between emotions and physical symptoms, helping them respond in a healthy way.
  • Safety and consent: The most crucial aspect of body awareness is understanding what's normal and healthy regarding bodily functions and sexuality. This helps adolescents respect their own and others' boundaries, and grasp the concepts of consent and safety.
  • Prevention: When adolescents are aware of their bodies and sex, they're less likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors. This knowledge can increase their risk awareness and help them make healthy decisions about sex and sexual health.

All of this helps children and adolescents navigate their life stages with confidence and understanding, both of their own bodies and in relationships with others. It enables them to make informed decisions that promote health and well-being.

Sex education is age-appropriate

The term "sex education" sometimes worries people, who may think it means teaching young children about sex, but that's not the case. The goal is to provide children with a sense of safety, understanding, and confidence about their own bodies. Sex education is always tailored to children's age and development, covering all aspects of our sexuality. The aim is to provide comprehensive sex education. Here are some examples of topics covered:

  • Relationships and communication: Families, friendships, healthy and unhealthy relationships.
  • Values, rights, and culture: The Convention on the Rights of the Child, rights, messages we receive from social media.
  • Gender and gender roles: Prejudice, discrimination, and equality.
  • Safety and violence: Consent and boundaries, sexual harassment and violence.
  • Skills for well-being and improved health: Decision-making, respect, rejection, where to get support and assistance.
  • Body and development: Correct names for genitals, diverse body types, puberty, hygiene.
  • Sexuality and sexual behavior: Pleasure and well-being, masturbation, taking the first step.
  • Sex and reproductive health: Contraception and STI prevention, pregnancy, childbirth.