Thursday, May 27, 2010

Sex Ed for Kindergarteners?

 I saw this on CNN  ( obviously, my new favorite online hot spot  as you can plainly see from my recent posts. I may have a slight CNN addiction. Is there a group for this? A 12 step program?) and I was torn.


CNN* Please stop making the video unavailable! How are my readers supposed to watch this video if you keep removing it?

First I was taken aback. The sheer sight of these little kids ( because I have a little girl going into Kindergarten next year) playing with these anatomically correct dolls filled me with conflict. On one side, I do not believe in  bull shitting my kids but I think there is a time and place for everything. I think children become curious at different points and are also all ready at different times to know the facts.   From the beginning, my girls have known the anatomically correct names of their genitalia and they know that boys have a penis ( "peanut" as Gabs likes to refer to it as).Bella once asked me how we got her sister out of my belly. I was stumped. I fumbled, but I couldn't lie because I don't want to do that with my girls. So, I nonchalantly said she came out of me. Bella: How? ( I'm pretty sure she was going to look for a door or something) Me: She came out through my vagina. Bella: Oh! OK. ( I'm  sure she didn't completely understand the logistics of it all but she had an answer and that's all she wanted.) She never asked again and she commenced with playing dress up with her baby dolls. I'm sure that's not how some people would handle it but it was the best I could do. I wasn't prepared. She was 3. I talk to my girls about not letting people touch them in their private places, or really anywhere. People need their private space, no one should be in that space unless invited in.  But when I saw this video, though I am straight forward with my kids do I want a teacher handing out dolls with pubic hair and anatomically correct genitalia? I mean, did you see the little girl pushing the baby back up into the dolls uterus? Of course that could have been a useful tool with my conversation with Bella a couple years back. Then you think, well, this is on the other side of he world maybe they need it over there. No danger of my girls meeting the anatomically correct twins anytime soon.
Then I came across this....



Ahh, remember the good old days when you hit 5th grade someone slipped you a pamphlet , scared you shitless with a movie, and gave you a little baggie with some "PADS" in it to take home? Of course, that was as far as it went..my parents didn't tell me bupkis other than if I did "IT" ( whatever the hell that meant), I'd be shipped off to live with my mean Grandma in Mexico...that is, once they were done beating my ass. Yeah, never really saw the draw in that plus I surely didn't want to end up living with my mean Grandma in a third world country! The consequences far outweighed the benefits. I guess gone are the days when you could take your kid to the gynecologist and make them believe that every time they had sex they would have to have a pap? True story...I know a woman who did that to her daughter. Sounds cruel...but it would've worked on me!Well, I should be in no danger of Bella getting "the dolls" next year, she's going to Catholic school. I think the closest they get to sex ed is the issuance of the chastity belts at orientation!Basically, I am still torn on the subject....even after talking it out with all of you.What are your thoughts?




Oh Craptastic! I just realized Gabs is 3 now. Hey, wonder where I can get my hands on one of those dolls!

8 comments:

  1. I think five year olds have no business in sex ed. I find it ridiculous and sad and frightening, quite frankly. I wish people would remember they're children, not tiny adults. It's one thing to answer questions honestly and age appropriately if you're the parent. It's another thing to pass out penis dolls in kindergarten. All I can say is, thank God for private school.

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  2. wow!! I think that if parents would be more open with their kids or more honest...we would not need this so early! and I don't think we should start too early! However, I implant early the idea of respect and waiting and the 'specialness' of intimacy! Until they are old enough we talk about the 'first kiss' and how it belongs to some one special, yada yada:)!!

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  3. This is heinous! I don't think this is appropriate at all. It is too young.

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  4. It's hard to say when the first time to start talking to kids about sex is. I know I don't like the idea of kindergarteners doing it at school however. I think that these conversations are best had with parents at home where all questions that come up can be answered at the child's own level. My son Nino who is 5 has asked me questions about how babies come out of a mommmy and I did tell them that they come out of the vagina, but I didn't offer any more details than necessary. I think this whole sex ed for 5 year old movement is a sad statement about our society that we can even contemplate needing something like this in the schools for children that are so young.

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  5. OK! Does it bother anyone else that the female doll has these two babies hanging on from the inside out? Still tethered to the uterus! YIkes! It's hurting me just to watch!I wonder if there is a little placental sac that falls out if you push on the belly? Oooh! I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit!

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  6. thats just crazy! thanks for stopping by my blog Im a new follower of yours!

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  7. How wrong is it that I really want that boy doll? His parts are cracking me up! Perhaps I needed to start sex ed early so that I wouldn't still find a penis so funny at nearly 33. Penis.

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  8. Okay I'm late on this..but I have to say that I don't think that school is the place where kids should learn about sex anyway. I think that as parents we should have "the talk" with them, and we should explain our beliefs not a teacher at school.

    When Cam started middle school last year I had that talk. We talked about sex (not how, just in general) and we talked about babies. The converstaion went like this:
    "Cam next year you will be in middle school and your friends will start talking about sex and maybe even having sex. Do you know what sex is?"
    "I guess"
    "Sex is a gift that a man and a woman share when they are in love...this is the way God made us, because of sex we can have babies..are you ready to be a daddy?"
    "NO!"
    "Well then don't have sex, save that for when you are older and with someone you love..not now or in high school"

    Then we talked about AIDS and STD's that will give you sores on your penis...I think we are safe in that department LOL

    There was more to the conversation than that...but that's the gist of it! I really want to enforce with him that sex is something special that you share with your wife, and if you have already shared it with everyone you've ever dated then it takes the specialness away.

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Love to hear your thoughts on my truth! Please leave some love, insight , or even disagreement with mine. I believe in free thought and speech. Happy Mothering!!