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OP, ignore the people who are insulting you by telling you to "take some responsibility" for your child, as if you never do that.
I guess they've never been caught off guard by anything as a parent.
Those of us with older kids know that stuff like this happens fairly often. One day you're cruising along, hitting milestones, then before you know it ... BAM. A kid on the bus uses a George Carlin-level cuss word in front of your young one. Or the neighbor kid tells them there is no Santa (if you happen to have Santa in your home).
Or your 5th-grader sees a porn gif online that basically sums up every sex act in a 15-second loop, almost before you've even had the sex talk.
It happens. It will continue to happen. Relax and remember that you have a plan for raising your child, and while not everyone will agree with it, not everyone has to.
Yup. Once they start school, a great deal of effort is spent trying to stay one step ahead of what their ragamuffin friends teach them. My oldest is only 11, and we've already had to have quite a few discussions that *I* wasn't ready to have to have with him, but the horse was out of the barn.
i think that the school should stick to education topics like math, writing, science, etc. etc. they dont really need to try to program people's opinions on other issues.
Hmm...I was in kindergarten in the 50's and we learned about families. The teacher read from a series of books about Dick and Jane. Two children who were, I thought, abnormally well-mannered. By the first grade they were using the same books to teach us to read. Gestapo-like tactics from a government overstepping its bounds and using Dick and Jane as propaganda tools to train impressionable young minds.
Obviously it was part of a government plot to get us to make our beds and eat our peas. That Eisenhower.....he was a sneaky one imposing his values and opinions on a bunch of 5-year-old's.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 06-06-2016 at 07:29 PM..
I don't necessarily agree that the teacher/school made a conscious decision to teach about alternative relationships. There are instances in which people 'miss' things. For example, a teacher might be so accustomed to seeing non-traditional relationships that she just accepted the content since the book was in the school library.
I returned to working in the. Public schools this past school year after a break of 9 years. Things have changed...Students are exposed to a lot! They are enthralled by the internet/ video games we all know. I have a group of students who talk incessantly about their level in the video game Call of Duty. Once in an exercise in which I had the group write down their 'interests ' one student wrote the name of this game. He has a learning disability and reverses d to b. I, not being familiar with the video game at the time, and attempting to decipher his writing, read aloud... yes, you guessed it.
Omg, the laughter (and being middle school age they all knew the connotation)! I was mortified, but bravely moved on. When I went home I looked to see what the internet yielded and was not surprised. The students probably searched as well. Omg again. They tried to bring the conversation back to my blunder in the next session, but I again (this time I hope more deftly) moved on.
Even though our internet at school is heavily blocked, I have seen things pop up onscreen that I have to immediately cover with my hand. The students understand this and casually accept that I am hiding inappropriate content. Now we are comfortable and move on.
I only give these examples to illustrate that there are chance 'encounters' in content.
Maybe a parent could ask teacher for book titles in advance of a lesson so that parents could pre read it to child? Or would this come off as too involved? I don't know. I'm just making a suggestion. Btw, teachers (good ones ) appreciate parent involvement. This is really an understatement. Schools want good, positive parent involvement and students need it.
From many years in the public schools, I have seen the gamut of parent participation- the good, the bad and the very ugly, (think book burning here). A positive, constructive attitude is best on the part of all involved.
Not to shift topic, but this op just reminded me of a good friend whose little boy, aged 4 or 5, after seeing some tv program, began to discuss marriage. He insisted that he was going to marry his dad when he grew up. He brought the subject up himself and was adamant.
My friend laughed it off as did I. Who else would he marry but the person he loved most?
What are ya gonna do? (Shrugs)
All that said, I sense perhaps a parent who just isn't sure about how he would have handled the subject and the subject came up sooner than expected?? Having that privilege taken away must feel uncomfortable. There in lies another lesson...as a parent, as in the Boy Scouts- "Be prepared." This is just the beginning. ( Someone wrote this earlier.)
Did they send home any sort of notice that they were going to be discussing those topics? I only ask because we used to get notices home with the option of opting the kids out if we chose to. I'm in NY.
Or your 5th-grader sees a porn gif online that basically sums up every sex act you can imagine in a 15-second loop, almost before you've even had the sex talk with them.
why werent you monitoring their computer usage? Why didnt you talk to them about internet use and sex before that?
thats different than reading about same sex relationships. YOU had control over your 5th grader and their choices. OP didnt.
i think that the school should stick to education topics like math, writing, science, etc. etc. they dont really need to try to program people's opinions on other issues.
You should probably look up your state's learning standards and find out with your child will be taught so there are less surprises going forward.
In Missouri, as part of the health curriculum, Kindergartners learn how their families are similar and different from their peers. Since the book dealt with all different families, and not just same sex couples, I would consider this book completely acceptable to be read in school, especially if your daughter has a classmate with two moms or two dads.
Its not programming people's opinions, but normalizing something that is socially acceptable. Think about the parents in same sex marriages, how do you think they would feel if the traditional nuclear family with a husband, wife, and 2.5 kids was the only family that was discussed. By kindergarten, they have already talked about it to their child, but in school the child might feel like his/her family is something to be embarrassed about. Why not make the lesson inclusive to all the children in the classroom?
Dude, it's free. You get what you pay for. American public schools teach liberal principles and ideals. And it will continue to do so. If you don't like the free offering, then you will have to provide/pay for the education yourself. That's just life.
This.
OP, if you really don't have a problem with homosexuality, then you should not have a problem with it being taught in school. I have a problem with it, which is why my children will go to a religious school.
The answer is "yes." It doesn't even require a long, complicated answer.
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