Sex Education....should I let my DD (7) attend these sessions?

[emdanmum]

My DD's school have sent a letter home today saying that yrs 2-6 will be recieving "sex and relationship" lessons from 5th July, as part of PSHE. These lessons will be taught over three weeks, with two half hour lessons per week.
My initial reaction was "no way", but I need to hear what others think.........please feel free to comment/advise.
Thank you.

[PandaG]

yes definitell let her attend. Will only be friendship stuff tyhis year I would be pretty sure, the mechanics of sex is usually taught in Y5 and Y6.

[deaddei]

You should attend a talk at the school where they outline what they will discuss.
I don't have a problem with it- my dcs both did it.
It's hardly The Joy of Sex.

[Eglu]

I don't understand this worry about children learning these things.

Why did you think 'no way'? Why is it so bad for children to know?

[ElizabethWakefield]

I would let her attend. It wont be overly detailed at age 7.

[WellMeantHellBent]

Does your 7 year old not have any idea about sex then? I think you should let her go and have a conversation when she gets back. DD is 3 and knows basics about where babies come from, periods and sex.

[Slambang]

Why on earth would you prevent your dd from attending what will no doubt be a very well prepared age-appropriate and gently introduced series of lessons on a subject that she will already be getting misinformation about in the playground?

Do you want her to get the impression that you are the one mum in the school who is not prepared to talk honestly and openly with her dd about this?

[WellMeantHellBent]

Also I can't think of anything more confusing for a child than not having a clue what ALL of her other classmates have been discussing!

[CuppaTeaJanice]

If she doesn't go, she'll just hear it second hand, with the facts distorted probably, by her classmates.

Also you'd be sending out the message that sex is wrong and unpleasant, something to be avoided. That could possibly lead to issues later in life. And surely you want her to understand about relationships?

They don't teach the mechanics of sex until Yr 5, Panda? That seems really late. Some of the children will be nearly 11.

[emdanmum]

I think it's a bit more than friendship stuff....that's why I'm questioning it.
1st lesson they go over the basics of male/female differences and differences between children, eg. size, shape, eye colour. This I'm ok with. But they also highlight on drawings the parts needed to make a baby. This concerns me a little.
The rest of the sessions cover pregnancy and birth, puberty and breast feeding.
Maybe I'm being over sensitive, but DD's only 7.....I never even heard of anything sex-related until I was 11.

[CuppaTeaJanice]

Some girls start their periods at 8 though. Surely it's better that they know what to expect - what could be scarier than bleeding from your bits and not having a clue what's going on because your mum was too scared to let you go to a class and find out.

[CuppaTeaJanice]

Great to hear that breast feeding is being covered.

[emdanmum]

I'm not scared. I just feel that children grow up too fast anyway. Why should we go beyond the basics before we need to?

[HousewifeOfOrangeCounty]

why not?

[Portofino]

My dd is 6. Wr already have books. We haven't covered puberty yet, but the sex and baby bit most definitely covered. At parents evening tonight, dd's teacher told us that dd had described her "caeserian" birth to the class, as they sat there open mouthed, asking so did she DIE then...? Teacher then had opportunity to explain that this was normal.

This was seen as an entirely positive thing!

[emdanmum]

She knows that a mum and dad are needed to make a baby, and that mum's make milk for their babies. She learnt that from me having DS. We are open as a family.......no doors are locked when myself and DH are using the loo/shower-she knows what adult bodies looked like. I just think that 7 is very early to sexualise a childs body-am I alone on this??
I'm sure that I'm not the ONLY mum at school who feels this way......I can think of 3 off of the top of my head that I'm sure will share my feelings.

[FairyMum]

Let her go. Its going to be pitched at the right level. They are not going to show her a porn-film.

[WellMeantHellBent]

I don't understand how it is sexualising a child's body?

[littlebabynothing]

I really don't think that the sessions will 'sexualise' children - quite the opposite

[Portofino]

Sex is an entirely natural and normal thing! It is only the media that makes it seedy.

[PandaG]

I have covered the mechanics with DS several times since he was about 6, in more detail each time as the questions came up, but yes, at school he is about to be taught the plumbing for the first time at the end of Y5. Some of his female classmates have clearly already entered puberty, ao I am quite happy for him to be tauight this at school. I would want me or DH to have had the first discussion with him though. - today I explained abortion and rape as a result of him listening to the 6pm news

DD is Y3, and she has had all q's answered too as they have come up, she knows what sex is, and how a baby is made. I'm all for the dripfeed approach and think that is rightfro school too, goiung over the same ground and adding more detail as appropriate.

[lilac21]

I teach yr 2 in a Catholic school and have also done SRE this term. Our topic is communities and we don't mention the S part of SRE at all.

No-one has withdrawn the children, and why would they? It's the sort of stuff I'd cover in RE and PSHE.

Puberty is taught in yr 5 onwards.

[Dollytwat]

You should let her go, let her be at the same stage as her friends, she can discuss anything with her teachers too.

DS1 who is 8 knows much more however, as I did have to explain why he had to have an op to ease his tight foreskin (he didn't think it was necessary) so I had to go into a more detailed explanation.

Endamum it's better they know the real facts from you or a teacher, I have a friend who hasn't told her DD anything. I KNOW her DD has been told all sorts by her friends.

My 5 yr old asked me tonight about babies for the first time and I tend to answer what I'm asked, but no more.

Anyway DS2 does now seem to think that if his willy stands up it will magically insert itself into a girls 'noo noo', I did explain it wasn't a magnet but he was giggling too much to take it in, I just had to clarify that babies don't come out of nipples (where did he get that from???)

I'm looking forward to the wedding reception conversation he's having tomorrow with family!

[lifeinagoldfishbowl]

When we did sex ed in year 3 (this is years back lol) my mum asked the school to borrow the videos to watch with me before I was then shown them at school - could you do that?