This is why model Vaneeza Ahmad thinks parents should talk to their kids about periods and puberty
Model Vaneeza Ahmad believes it is essential for parents to talk to their kids about their bodies and the changes they go through during puberty.
She appeared on an episode of the show Good Morning Pakistan on Tuesday where host Nida Yasir discussed how to protect children from sexual harassment and predatory behaviour.
When asked by Yasir how she had trained her own daughters to defend themselves against harassment, Ahmad said, “I am a gung-ho mother, Nida. I am shameless. I think there should be no shame in discussing these things, between mothers and daughters, mothers and sons, and even between spouses. These things should be discussed and [children] should be told.”
She said that despite social stigma, she felt things like the menstrual cycle should be discussed because society had made it into a taboo and people lacked awareness. At this point, human rights lawyer Zia Awan said it was so bad that adult women didn’t understand their own bodies.
Ahmad explained she had used science to talk to her kids about puberty and the human body. “Both my daughters, when they were around seven years old, between five to seven, I got them anatomical diagrams. I explained human anatomy, both of men and women.”
She said that’s the age children are naturally inquisitive and satisfying their curiosity was the right way to go.
“I preemptively told them… this is how your body will develop, it will change like this at this age. I never taught them to be ashamed, I showed them how beautiful the human body is and what systems it has.”
Model and psychotherapist Atia Fareed agreed therapy was important for everyone in that it can help them regulate emotions, but especially children who had gone through the trauma of sexual harassment at a young age.
Earlier in the programme, the guests were joined by two young girls, both of whom had been harassed as pre-teens.
One of the girls, who was abused by an instructor at a tuition centre, had told Yasir she no longer felt safe being instructed by a male teacher years after the incident.
The other girl, whose abuser was her uncle, warned viewers to be watchful of all men, even if they are family members.
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