Ok, a serious rant but it was inspired by something I thought was cute and I tie it all together and share it at the bottom, so pardon my soap box.
One of the things that I am working on as I go on (thank God we are homeschooling our kids) is their "education" in that which brings about human life. Oh, and I am not talking about the story of creation. So, we have decided that formal education is out, just see what bringing attention to drugs has done in the D.A.R.E. programs. So, our kids ask us things and we tell them a true answer but not completely true answer to their question and their current level of satisfaction. For example, our five year old will tell you that babies are made by Mommy and Daddy participating in a "special hug" that brings about a new baby. In fact, she has asked when my wife and I are going to do that again so we can have another baby!
My opinion would be that we should not have any form of public sex-education, I don't want my kids taught about condoms or an abstinence only program. I have a feeling that highlighting sexuality, especially in a mixed environment (lets face it the 1 hour of class may be segregated by gender but the rest of the day isn't), no matter what the message is, especially to a younger group of kids that are still learning to reason, is a dangerous thing. I get alot of my information from Steve Wood's website, Dads.org. On e of the things that I think is important is modeling the virtues for our children, if we want them to be modest, shouldn't their education be modest? Does a young woman need to know that sex can be really exciting and fun until she is engaged and soon to be married? What is she going to do with that knowledge before then? She can know it is beautiful, special, important and the means of procreation.
I really think that telling 12 year olds how to chart and know what it means (this is when you are "safe") is like giving them a loaded gun, especially if they are of the thought that this is going to be fun. The other thing that I think is important is that our daughters and sons know that we respect them and support them in a decision to be chaste. I know how hard it is to be chaste in a wild dating society and fully intend on my daughters only being allowed to court. Anyway, I am swinging far and wide. Does anyone else have any ideas about sex education for kids? Right now we are just running with it as any other part of life, not something that you have to be sat down for and make a big production 
out of. I am not calling anyone a bad parent for what they have done, I am trying to build on experiences and figure out what is best, so that I can provide it for my kids. Though, I will say that this makes for interesting times with my 7 month old daughter as she chews on the different ideas around contraception.
Under the Mercy,
Matthew S.
sex+education homeschool homeschooling contraception NFP natural+family+planning
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Something to chew on.....
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7 comments:
Ok! Your daughter is an abosolute doll! She is sooooooo cute! Wish I had one like yours :o)
Awww...your daughter is so precious! This picture made my day. XD
As far as sex ed goes, I'd say your best bet is to wing it. That sounds nonsensical but every kid is different and they change from one year to another. Keep your general goals in mind (chastity, modesty, etc) and remember the little darlings are born with their own personalities.
And lottsa luck, you'll need it!
Your approach sounds pretty much like ours. Not long ago my 10 year old asked lots of questions about how babies are made. I would give her only as much information as I thought she needed. But, of course, she kept asking *more* questions so that in the end, she got to know the whole lot.
Poor child, she looked quite grossed out, so I said to her, that it was okay to be appalled and I was pretty appalled when I first found out and that, yes, it is a pretty odd thing to do, but it does make sense when you're a grown up and married.
Although our kids are well acquainted with people who have kids but aren't married, they have been carefully taught that it's best for the children to be born in the context of marriage. This aspect of things - rather than just the plumbing (which is really all I was taught) - has always been the focus of their education. The topic just comes up naturally - we've never had formal "lessons."
But every family is different... this is just our way.
And yes, your baby is gorgeous!
I was talking the other day with a lady friend of mine who also homeschooled her kids for many years. She told me once that her family was giving her a hard time about being to protective of her kids. She told her family, and I have to agree, that she knew her kids would one day be exposed to things like drugs and sex but when they were she wanted them to be shocked. If they are shocked than she did her job well.
I think that kids lead you to when to have the talk. We have talked about chasity and there is an awesome book about this called "The Princess and The Kiss" by Jennie Bishop (I think). Kids don't need to know everything. But agian we don't want them learning it all from the wrong people. It is like those accursed "One Less" commercials. No one wants cervical cancer, but instead of telling people that they are giving their kids a shot to help prevent an STD not cancer. It is all a matter of how you put things.
I hope this all made sense, everyone is watching Indiana Jones right now... lol.
And your baby is ADORABLE!
Yes, yes to all of the above -- but I want to add "sense of humor" to the mix. As I tell our Confirmation home group students, sex is too important not to take seriously and it's too silly not to laugh about. (What's that? We talk about sex at Confirmation home group meetings? Cough. Ahem. Well, yes, the topic does come up.)
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