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Now, i feel obligated to explain that I support equality for everyone and believe I am teaching my daughter to not discriminate against people who are different.
The more of this thread I read, the less I believe this statement to be true.
No one is introducing homosexuality, it's a book about families. Families come in all different races, genders, sexually etc...
Should she have read a book about families that was just a mom, dad and a kid? Do you realize if there is a kid in the class who has same sex parents that they might ask why the family doesn't look like theirs.
I'm sorry that your upper-middle class, stellar quality, free school system is being inclusive of all its students and their families. You're welcome to educate your children in another manner.
No one is introducing homosexuality, it's a book about families. Families come in all different races, genders, sexually etc...
This is a good point.
If the book includes a family with grandparents and kids but no parents, are you going to complain the school is usurping your right to teach your child about death? Or what if the family mentioned is one with a black mom and a white dad, are they usurping your right to teach about race?
This can be played out in any variety of ways and basically it comes back to being about including all kids and families rather than taking anything from you.
First question- why haven't you taught your children about this yet when it's a pivotal issue in society? Why are you shielding them? Teach them first and you won't have to worry about school. We've already talked about it with our toddler.
If the book includes a family with grandparents and kids but no parents, are you going to complain the school is usurping your right to teach your child about death? Or what if the family mentioned is one with a black mom and a white dad, are they usurping your right to teach about race?
This can be played out in any variety of ways and basically it comes back to being about including all kids and families rather than taking anything from you.
School should be about teaching things like Reading, Writing, Math, Science, History. I really don't think most reasonable parents would expect the kindergarten class to be introducing this kind of information. And there was a time, when parents actually were made aware of controversial things and allowed to opt their children out which should be the parent's right.
cd :O)
I don't consider it to be controversial. It's life. It reflects our current society. It is now normal. Kids can't be hidden away and shielded from it. Some of her friends probably have same sex parents that she has seen during drop off and pick-up. It's the world now. Get over it.
One of my work colleagues objected to sex education on the grounds that he wanted to have control over what his daughters learned with regard to that. I pointed out that then he should have sent her to a private school after vetting its policies. Public school is designed for the public good - he might have taught his daughters what they needed to know, but not every parent does so. Children need to be well-educated about pregnancy risks and STDs for the greater good of society. It was an interesting moment, because he conceded that I was right.
Similarly, with regard to teaching about different types of families, I see nothing wrong with that. The school is not there to promote anybody's agenda but to further the public good and teach the children how to be functional members of society and how to ALLOW others to be functional members of society. Your children must learn to be comfortable with all types of families if they are to be fully functioning and contributing members of society (especially if you're in a diverse state like NJ). Women may legally marry women in our country and men may legally marry men. The teacher was not promoting an agenda but giving your daughter solid facts.
Whether a child's family is opposed to gay marriage or not is irrelevant from the school's perspective. Kids need to be able to respect different family structures, people of other races, etc. to ensure that no one is bullied and to ensure that as they grow they can get along and be successful.
If you want more control over when your child learns certain things, either homeschool or send her to a carefully vetted private school, because the local public school is not about accommodating your personal hangups but on making sure your kids can get along and work with your peers and be successful later on in life.
Proactively "preparing" children for "kindness" as defined by government social policies is not the job of a school. Only intercepting poor behaviors against each other in the classroom for obvious reasons. You can't be having obnoxious little kids (or big ones) being destructive, disruptive or abusive to each other.
BTW HOW exactly does the TOPIC of "marriage" come up in KINDERGARTEN? Please elaborate.
The subject of marriage did not come up in Kindergarten. The teacher was reading a book about families. Some families had a mom and a dad. Some had a mom and a mom. Some had a dad and a dad. Some probably had just a mom or just a dad or maybe just grandparents.
The daughter is the one who extrapolated it enough to ask the question about who could marry whom.
im relaxed. im just responding to people and i didnt realize that people were so welcome of the school taking over parts of childhood development that i thought were in the realm of parenting. i also feel that the school is intentionally addressing this issue before parents. they didnt just want to talk about it, they wanted to be first to talk about it.
About families?! Have you not talked to your kindergarten child about families? By that age, it should not be a completely foreign idea that people have all different types of families.
Is this the book you are so worked up about? A book about cartoon animals?
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