Friday, July 20, 2007

Sex Education for Kindergarteners?

The other day, Senator Barak Obama told a group of Planned Parenthood members that he supported sex education for Kindergarteners.

Now, I don't believe in lying to children. Before ds was born, I bought my daughter a Happy Family Midge doll (you know, the Barbie doll with the baby in the belly). She is not stupid, she saw my stomach get bigger. She went to all my ultrasounds. She got to use the little doppler machine to hear her brother's heartbeat.

Furthermore, I think that children should be taught that there are places that nobody should be touching them. My daughter knows that nobody should be touching her where a bathing suit covers. It's the responsible thing to do whenever you hear a news story about some pervert touching little girls in the aisles of Toys R Us, or dd is in the bathtub asking daddy to "tickle my butt"... the response to that one is "no honey, only you are allowed to touch yourself there".

But the problem with teaching all this stuff to Kindergarteners is what to teach them exactly. Parents are not going to agree on that. Some parents want correct terminology used. Some parents are going to want their child to be taught that sometimes two mommies love each other, or two daddies. Other parents will want their children to know that you are supposed to be married when you have a baby, and of course the single parents don't want their children being taught that.

So while there are things that Kindergarteners should be taught, the proper place for them to learn it is at home. I think the schools should just teach "good touch bad touch" and leave the rest alone. I knew a 4 year old who was touching the other 4 year olds in her class in inappropriate ways... they need to know that. The other stuff is just too controversial.

1 comment:

Kim said...

this is going too far...sex education for 5 year olds?? no thanks...i'll take care of that, thank you. maybe homeschooling my son doesn't sound like a bad idea after all...

but i do agree with children knowing that certain body parts are off limits. kids are so curious but they should establish appropriate boundaries at an early age.

by the way, i will not be voting for obama. in case anybody wanted to know...