Just watched Sara Palin's 17 yr old daughter and her baby.. Tough either way - she did well - but she has the whole family backing and helping her. I have no good answers to this one other than I always told my son - there are fixable and working problems we can do...but you get a DUI and kill someone - it is no longer fixable...it is out of my hands. Bless you and your families - smile on the fixables - and pray throught the unfixables.
Just a quick question, were you praying for Bill and Hilary Clinton during their "fixables"?
I'm just curious.
__________________
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -Dr. Johnson
Just watched Sara Palin's 17 yr old daughter and her baby.. Tough either way - she did well - but she has the whole family backing and helping her. I have no good answers to this one other than I always told my son - there are fixable and working problems we can do...but you get a DUI and kill someone - it is no longer fixable...it is out of my hands. Bless you and your families - smile on the fixables - and pray throught the unfixables.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. – Philippians 2:3-4
I think there should be a "Parenting 101" class that teaches the parents to be responsible for educating their kids on this stuff rather than making the school responsible for it.
In fact, I think everyone should have to take this class in order to get the RFID chips that allow reproduction to be turned "on".
__________________
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. – Philippians 2:3-4
I think that by 4th and 5th grade, the kids have been talking and pretty much educated each other. It's probably a good thing that the parents or school step in and correct that teaching. Heaven only knows what ideas they may have come up with on their own.
That's funny!! I can totally relate to wanting to isolate my children from "growing up".
At an annual NFL draft party in Fargo, similar to the one I'll be at in Denver the last weekend of this month, I witnessed something that frazzled me in several different ways. My brother can verify this account.
Two young college women (attractive ones at that) stepped in front of my brother and me and proceded to do body shots off of each other. While at first it appeared I was witnessing an MTV episode live and in person, I suddenly realized someday my little girl could possibly be doing something like this.
It was at that point I decided she wasn't leaving the house until she turns 50. There was no way my baby girl was going to be out at bars doing these kinds of things!!
But just recently the hormones have kicked in for her as well as the attitude. I've since relaxed on that stance and have decided 18 will work just fine.
__________________
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. – Philippians 2:3-4
I've always been a calm, go with the flow type of person. I'd be lying if I told you that I am not freaking out (A little.) by this topic. My son is only 6 1/2 months old. I'm just trying to concentrate on getting him to eat solid foods and crawling and teething. Things a baby does...Now I have this? Maybe I'll buy some land in rural somewhere and keep him away from the world. No TV's, cell phones, and definately NO INTERNET. Scarey stuff.
I believe that Bryce started having classes about puberty, sex ed, what sexual harrassment is, etc in 7th grade health class. PRIOR to discussion however, a note was sent home from the Health teacher stating WHAT the curriculum was, HOW it was going to be presented and WHY it's important to have the subject in school, but what we as parent's should do with the information given to the students. We had to sign the permission slip for our student to be included in the class or if we were uncomfortable with it sign to have the student excused from the class. It was a very basic overview of subjects but enough to peak conversation between parent's and student. We were given an outline of what they were discussing so that we could talk to them about what they were studying. Just recently in Health this year (8th) grade they had a group of 15-18 *YES 15* year old mothers and fathers come in and talk about the responsiblities associated with having kids at such a young age. It as a REAL eyeopener for Bryce to see these "kids" with babies. Of couse him having a 5 month old sister might help with him thinking twice about having his own now too.
I was most impressed with the sexual harassment end of it. They stressed that it involved more than physical contact and not just to their same sex. It was jokes, inuendos, etc. These days with My Space and chatting it's so important for these kids to realize what they are dealing with.
While I feel that Bryce and I have a very open relationship, I'm also not naive enough to think he's going to tell me anything and everything. I want him to be informed and aware.
I came from a home life that was nice, but never discussed those things. All I knew is what came from friends. I think we watched a video in PE in 8th grade, but giggled the whole time. Then in Biology my sophomore year, we watched the whole entire thing, including the childbirth. THat was more interesting, but it was mixed company, so still alittle embarrassing. My daughter is 11, and in the 5th grade, and is maturing way before I did. Which isn't saying much as I was a very late bloomer. I have always been very open and straightforward with my kids as I want them to be informed, bringing into the classroom is fine, as long as the parents are informed and can choose to not have their child attend. Eveything is happening earlier to these kids, not sure of the reason, but it is here and we cannot ignore this, with everything that is out there, teen pregnancy, STD's, AIDS, etc. Agreeing with Steve, parents shoudl be the frontline, but that is sometimes not the way they choose to do things. ANd they should be informed of the actions and consequences by somebody. My son is 16, and is in his most serious relationship so far, and believe me, we have talked about alot! I am deifinelty not old enough to have grandchildren yet!!!!
LOL! Great story!! I can tell you that I learned plenty as a young boy also but I won't go into detail as my mom and dad both read this board and I'm afraid I'd get grounded.
While I agree wholeheartedly that the parents need to be at the frontlines when it comes to this issue, the sad truth is that there are parents that don't accept responsibility well. Thus, I also believe there is a place in the school for some kind of early "body change" type education. I'm just very glad that Rickard made the decision to at least allow the parents to view the content before hand.
__________________
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. – Philippians 2:3-4
To the best of my recollection, sex ed. for me started on the day I was taken along in the pickup for a drive through the pasture (just a few miles east of Williston) with Mom and Dad as they monitered the behavior of two newly purchased and turned-out Hereford bulls. I have to wonder if they had that little bit of education in mind at that time. I remember every word of that lesson. I was probably 4 yrs. old at the time. It all made sense the following spring, as I witnessed (often doing nothing more than holding the flashlight) the result of last summer's "seed planting". But the timing of this enlightenment should be the decision of the parents, not the school.
__________________
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt
I remember watching a similar sounding video in 7th grade health class (or was it 8th grade?) at WJHS. They segregated the boys and girls for each gender specific video. I think the information was a little late for most of the girls, maybe not for the boys.
The topic really should be discussed with family before getting some generic video IMHO, instead of using up classroom time (not that it's an inappropriate subject).
__________________
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -Dr. Johnson
Lewis and Clark is having the same video program on the 18th. Sounds like the whole district is having this. I really don't know how it this program will help my son. Heck, he pretty much knows everything. I was open and honest with him when he came asking about the birds and the bees. And of course he has an 18 year old brother and a 17 year old sister, so I figured I'd better tell him it all before they get ahold of him and tell him some off the wall crap that scares the hell out of him. You know how older sibs can be. They'll tell him something way wrong just to get a reaction out of him.
Thanks Steve. I hope he continues to feel comfortable too, although I think I need to read the book too to really know what happens with boys!! I think I will be calling our school to see what their sex-ed curriculum entails. Thanks for posting this!!
I would have had an absolute fit had they not warned us about this class. I didn't let my son go to this class today since I figured all that would come of it is a bunch of reasons to giggle and laugh. They're still too immature to really understand what is trying to be taught....in my opinion.
In my mind, if at all possible it's better for the parents to talk to the children about this stuff. I understand that relationships aren't that perfect for all families so there is a place for this in school. Just not at this age for the boys...again in my opinion.
Mica, that's very cool that your son feels comfortable talking to you about it. I hope when the time comes that my son feels the same.
__________________
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. – Philippians 2:3-4
At least you were informed and shown the video ahead of time. Our fifth grade son came home from school last week and said they saw a short video and that the girls and boys watched their videos seperately. We asked him about it but he didn't say much except the boys laughed when the p word was mentioned and that the girls video was longer.
I wish we would have been told ahead of time about the video, etc.
Its interesting that you bring this up, Steve. My 4th grade "little" boy is starting to show some signs of puberty starting (he says "mom, I have the PUPERTY" which means he is finding hair in new places, I believe) Is it just me or is it starting way earlier than when we were kids? Ugh.
I went to Rickard last night and watched a video they are showing to the 4th and 5th grade girls and 5th grade boys. I was not so shocked by the girls video as I realize you girls start this stuff earlier than boys. But I was a little shocked at some of the content of the boys video.
Personally I don't remember ever even having a class like this with videos of such content. How many of you had an actual "Puberty" class and video when you were in gradeschool?
Heather and I have been proactive with this issue. Before we knew they were having this class we had already purchased a terrific book called "You are Wonderfully Made". It approaches these same issues from a Christian perspective and really "eases the pain" so to speak of discussing these issues with our children. This was intended more to prepare us for later on when the time comes and not so much for now, but apparently we are closer to that time than we had originally expected.
I'd go into more detail on the content but that wouldn't be fair to you guys if/when you get to this point in your lives...
Thoughts?
__________________
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. – Philippians 2:3-4
Uff dah, where the heck did time go?
