headings
"For Girls" and "For Boys" will help parents and teachers.

There is need of little private hygienic instruction, but of much
guidance away from harmful habits. This will be indicated in the next
section which considers masturbation as it concerns children of both
sexes and all ages.

[Sidenote: Protection.]

The protection of children from corrupting influences is an important
work of sex-education in pre-adolescent years. Probably the greatest
safety lies in parents giving simple facts regarding reproduction and
in cultivating confidence so that any accidental contact of their
children with vulgarity will be counteracted in advance. Many parents,
especially mothers, have found this possible.

[Sidenote: Girls' preparation for puberty.]

In the years between ten and twelve every child should learn from a
parent or other adult confidant some general facts regarding their
approaching puberty. This is especially important in the case of girls,
for many a girl has been physically and mentally injured because a
prudish mother has procrastinated too long the giving of information
regarding the first menstrual period. The facts in the first thirty
pages of W.S. Hall's "Life Problems" should be known by many girls of
eleven and by the great majority before thirteen. Some books for young
girls are defective in that they avoid reference to the coming
changes. I see no excuse for a sex-hygiene book for girls who are too
young to be trusted with the simplest knowledge regarding menstruation.
Such children should be interested in nature studies and perhaps the
elements of general hygiene, but certainly not in books with
curiosity-stimulating titles.

[Sidenote: Special needs of boys.]

Since boys entering puberty pass through no such sharply defined
beginning as girls do, the information they need in advance is not so
specific. At the same time, we must recognize that the average boy
under twelve years picks up more information regarding sexual life than
a girl does, and so the problem of teaching self-control comes earlier,
although the average girl enters puberty a year or two before the boy.
Parents and teachers must recognize the fact that sexual tendencies
come to many boys several years before puberty, and masturbation and
even premature sexual intercourse are possible problems with many boys
long before the twelfth year. The boy's early gathering of sexual
information is not without advantage, for it becom