Tuesday Discussion Thread!!!!

In the "ideal" world sex education wouldn't need to be taught in schools. It would be taught at home. However, we are not in an ideal world and some children just don't get it any other way. I do feel that it should be a subject that has parental permission and involvement.

I certainly agree Ani. I was one of the "lucky" (if you can call it that) ones who received accurate information at home from my mother. So, for me, sex ed class was a class I did well in. ;)

Goodness, something more than what they had at my school. Frankly, without even calling it SEX ed and just informing women (and men, on their extent) what their bodies DO each month could erase a WORLD of confusion for young women. I didn't know ANYTHING about my cycle until we went to conceive our son and bought Taking Charge of Your Fertility. Seriously. I didn't know that your body gives you signs about fertility. I didn't know anything about basal body temperature, cervical mucous or height of your cervix. We were just told, "28 day cycles," which is a load of malarchy for many women, myself included. Knowing that there were signs to ovulation could have clued me in to certain things. BEYOND that, simply knowing that things like discharge were not only NORMAL but signs from your body could have erased embarassment I felt about my OWN BODY.That said, yes, I believe parents should be heavily involved in educating their children about such topics. But if they're not going to do it, oh, please, SOMEONE do it. (And by someone, I don't mean someone in the backseat of a car, ya know?)

Yes!!!!!!!!!!

My husband is the co-chair of the Health and Sex Ed Committee for our school district so I have some really strong opinions on this. (Surprise Surprise! :love: ) Absolutely.... Abstinence only instruction. "Keep your knees together." is the only instruction some parents give. Many do not give any at all. With HIV and genital herpes silence can have life long consequences. MI has a model health and sex ed Curriculum. It includes sections on healthy relationships and the emotional consequeces of sexual intimacy. (besides the actual sex ed and std ed.)

Brenda - thanks for sharing. I would agree. I applaud MI for it's progressive curriculum. It's too bad other areas didn't see the need for it.

Do you think that sex education should be taught in the school system? Yes, simply because a lot of parents don't do it and also because sometimes kids are more comfortable discussing some things with a teacher or other trusted adult than their parent. What problems do you see with it being taught by the schools? I think some things are too basic. Not enough emphasis on STD's, AIDS, date rape etc. Seems like a lot of focus is put on pregnacy, which is good, but I worry about the other stuff a whole lot more than a baby! I also think as with ANY educational program, I don't always agree with their methods and I don't always agree with what is being taught. However...my job as a parent is to keep informed of these things and make my voice heard when I have an issue. What problems do you see with it not being taught by the schools? Too many kids won't get any education at all, and after what I heard from my kids thanks to the "Bus Sex Education":eek:, it became very clear that a lot of kids are highly misinformed about things. (My 7 year old came home one day and announced he learned about sex on the bus! GULP! He was informed that "you make out big time on a bed".;)) My oldest son is 10 and going into 5th grade. He already understands what sex is, and knows that he'll be learning a lot more this year in school. So far he's totally grossed out by it all, which really wasn't the effect I was going for...it's not an ugly "thing" when between 2 consenting adults and for the right reasons etc., but right now...he's soooo not interested and I admit whole heartedly to being completely ecstatic about it!!:prop:

Don't you remember first finding out? My first thought was "My parents would never do that!!!" I started educating my kids at 4. There is a great book called "Mommy Laid an Egg". It is very graphic in a cartoony kind of way. My kids still thought it was gross, but at least they had the facts.

Brenda...oh sure...I just meant that I hope to also balance out the facts/education and all the horrors of STD's etc. with the emotional education too. If that makes sense. I want him to be educated so that he doesn't make poor choices, but at the same time I don't want him to be scared of it or grow up thinking it's this evil nasty thing.

I agree 100% w/ Brenda. We are in the buckle of the Bible belt and have a LOT of objection to sex ed in the schools. We also have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country. I wish all parents would undertake this task sensibly themselves, but they don't. And unfortunately, as Brenda points out, the consequences---both societal and individual--- for ignorance about STDs and pregnancy are long lasting.

I think also the whole "keep your legs together" attitude is having a backlash of sorts...so much of the education is focused on pregnancy that a lot of other young kids are doing LOTS of other things that they know won't get them pregnant. My guess is this was NOT the intended impact! However, it's very true. Children and teens are thinking that because they're not having "sexual intercourse" that they're not "breaking the rules." This to me seems like a HUGE problem with the current educational system where sexual education is concerned (at least in most places, maybe not MI! Thank goodness!)

Oh definitely! And while I don't know this yet, because my kids are not in middle school, I do wonder if any of the education programs cover the sex parties, bracelets/charm/"notches" etc. that I always hear about. I will say that in response to some of these activities, our elementary school did kick up their peer pressure "solutions" program a bit more. They use it for bullying etc. mostly, but it does hopefully set a better foundation for these types of things too. I do hope they cover some of this a bit though in the 5th & 6th grade programs...seems like kids are starting things earlier these days, although I don't know if that's true or not.

I have a nephew (boy) and a cousin (girl) that are about to start high school. I know my nephews sex education was minimal. I don't know what kind of sex education my cousin got, but a LOT of her friends are engaging in activities that would have REPULSED me as an 8th grader! I thought kissing with tongue was beyond gross at that point! It's just so frightening that sex ed is thought of to be about just the intercourse aspect...I'm not saying that they should teach other sex practices of course, don't get me wrong! But they need to teach that just because they aren't "sex" doensn't mean that they're acceptible forms of recreation!!

I know. My husband goes on and on to my kids about he wants them to grow up and have a great sex life with their partner that is deep and meaningful. At this point I think it is just TMI. However what they do so is that my husband and I can be loving and playful and that we respect each other. They are learning that they want that out of an intimate relationship. Great sex is just a natural product of that.:love: