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I'm pretty sure, not positive, of pretty sure they have to let the parents know before they show those. I'd probably just let her skip school that day. I mean who really thought those videos were helpful? We watched one in fifth grade with bears and "stranger danger". To this day that is a joke amongst my former classmates. We just had a reunion dinner a month ago and someone brought it up.
Maybe I missed something...why have her skip school to miss the health/puberty lesson? I understand the part of us that want to keep our kids young and innocent as long as possible but reality is they grow up. And we do want them armed withthe knowlege of what is happening to their bodies right? Also, some kids will never ever ask you for the information so as a parent you might have to take note of where they are on the maturity spectrum and bring up the discussion yourself. Hard as it might be, at some point, you don't want your child to be the only one who doesn't know. That puts her at risk not only for ridicule but of picking up misinformation from peers or not having the information to make good decisions. Best of luck.
Maybe I missed something...why have her skip school to miss the health/puberty lesson? I understand the part of us that want to keep our kids young and innocent as long as possible but reality is they grow up. And we do want them armed withthe knowlege of what is happening to their bodies right? Also, some kids will never ever ask you for the information so as a parent you might have to take note of where they are on the maturity spectrum and bring up the discussion yourself. Hard as it might be, at some point, you don't want your child to be the only one who doesn't know. That puts her at risk not only for ridicule but of picking up misinformation from peers or not having the information to make good decisions. Best of luck.
Because some parents are blatantly ignorant and want to keep their children the same way. I always love to hear parents say "This is the parents job to teach this stuff, not the schools". These are usually the same morons who barely graduated high school. Truth is most parents are not qualified in any way to teach this sort of subject matter and all they end up with equally dumb children who pass on their ignorance. I once had a crazy fundie co-worker tell me that the reason that incest produces more birth defects is that "god is punishing the sinners". Imagine this woman teaching her kids about sex ed. I have a feeling it would be "Intelligent Stork theory".
I think my two masters degrees in education make me pretty qualified to teach this stuff.
And I would keep her home because I want her to learn that "this stuff" is private and personal and to be discussed at home, not at school. And I absolutely believe it is the parents job to teach this stuff, not the schools. I am raising my daughter, they are educating my daughter.
I think my two masters degrees in education make me pretty qualified to teach this stuff.
And I would keep her home because I want her to learn that "this stuff" is private and personal and to be discussed at home, not at school. And I absolutely believe it is the parents job to teach this stuff, not the schools. I am raising my daughter, they are educating my daughter.
Nice thoughts and very commendable - but it WILL be discussed at school, by the kids, as well as during playtimes, sleepovers, heck, even at Sunday School, and I can almost guarantee you there will be considerable misunderstanding, exaggeration, and imagination in the kids' discussions, school lessons or not.
So - why not preempt the school lessons - and kids' discussions - with some of your own, ahead of the official school curriculum? That way, you will be able to teach your daughter as you see fit, answer any questions and clear up any misunderstandings, etc. Then let her relearn it at school, in the proper classroom setting, and she'll be considerably ahead of her classmates and have more accurate (and age-appropriate) knowledge to help with the inevitable private discussions' inevitable inaccuracies.
Another thought: why not have your own discussion with your daughter's teachers prior to the sex ed. unit, to check out the content and manner of teaching involved, and also to let the teacher know what your daughter already knows?
Edited later to add: if you don't allow your daughter to participate in the classroom instruction, she may well become the object of unwanted teasing by classmates - kids typically pick on anyone who is "different" in any way. So you may want to pick your battles...
Last edited by CraigCreek; 02-19-2013 at 05:19 PM..
I think my two masters degrees in education make me pretty qualified to teach this stuff.
And I would keep her home because I want her to learn that "this stuff" is private and personal and to be discussed at home, not at school. And I absolutely believe it is the parents job to teach this stuff, not the schools. I am raising my daughter, they are educating my daughter.
You were the one posting a question asking how to broach the subject with your 9 year old right?
I never meant to imply you weren't qualified, only that you seem very uncomfortable with the discussion. Elementary school health days discuss puberty only if I recall. While it's great to believe that ideally all of this "should" be taught at home, the unfortunate fact is some parents avoid doing that (or are misinformed themselves) and kids end up at risk.
ETA not sure why "these things" are so private they should not even be talked about except at home. I discuss menopause with my friends as well as my physician.
Last edited by maciesmom; 02-19-2013 at 05:50 PM..
Reason: clarity
Nice thoughts and very commendable - but it WILL be discussed at school, by the kids, as well as during playtimes, sleepovers, heck, even at Sunday School, and I can almost guarantee you there will be considerable misunderstanding, exaggeration, and imagination in the kids' discussions, school lessons or not.
So - why not preempt the school lessons - and kids' discussions - with some of your own, ahead of the official school curriculum? That way, you will be able to teach your daughter as you see fit, answer any questions and clear up any misunderstandings, etc. Then let her relearn it at school, in the proper classroom setting, and she'll be considerably ahead of her classmates and have more accurate (and age-appropriate) knowledge to help with the inevitable private discussions' inevitable inaccuracies.
Another thought: why not have your own discussion with your daughter's teachers prior to the sex ed. unit, to check out the content and manner of teaching involved, and also to let the teacher know what your daughter already knows?
Edited later to add: if you don't allow your daughter to participate in the classroom instruction, she may well become the object of unwanted teasing by classmates - kids typically pick on anyone who is "different" in any way. So you may want to pick your battles...
Yes, this. Kids are going to discuss all of this amongst themselves whether or not you approve.
Because some parents are blatantly ignorant and want to keep their children the same way. I always love to hear parents say "This is the parents job to teach this stuff, not the schools". These are usually the same morons who barely graduated high school. Truth is most parents are not qualified in any way to teach this sort of subject matter and all they end up with equally dumb children who pass on their ignorance. I once had a crazy fundie co-worker tell me that the reason that incest produces more birth defects is that "god is punishing the sinners". Imagine this woman teaching her kids about sex ed. I have a feeling it would be "Intelligent Stork theory".
In TX they only teach abstinence. Anything I teach my kids about birth control is going to be more useful than what they would learn at school.
The people I've known who really objected to their children being taught usually objected for religious reasons...and it's totally their right to do so. If their kids have any sense, they'll take advantage of the fact that information is more readily available now than ever before because of the internet, and they'll educate themselves.
My father had the talk with me at 7 years of age. I had OCD (even though it would not be diagnosed until about 9 years later) and perhaps task anxiety, and eating at the dinner table was painful because I would always have a "bothered" face - the type of face that your parents say "what's bothering you?" to. It was not that I was actually wondering or even bothered by sex, it was simply that I was so nervous about them asking what's bothering me. Kind of strange, isn't it?
He brought me to his bedroom, asked what I already knew about it, and explained the biology of it and how children are created by it. He also said to not have it until I was married.
Later we went to the newly-opened Cub Foods for the first time.
I understood most of it, though I misconstrued what he said about the sperm and the egg...I thought the male transmitted both to the female. I later heard the medievals thought the same way! That misunderstanding was corrected about a year or two later.
I wouldn't recommend having the talk so early with children in most cases, though.
I wouldn't recommend having the talk so early with children in most cases, though.
You have the talk with them when they ask the question.
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