AIBU to ask you to about your 10 year old daughters (and therefore to balance the DM article I have just red with horror!)

[StrumpersPlunkett]

SO, 10 year old girls needing contraceptive implants because they are having sex but as yet uneducated about contraception.

My son is in year 6 so I know about 30-40 girls this age. NONE and I do mean NONE of them are at the point of having sex yet, there are one or two who giggle about boys, and talk about which boy they are going to dance with at the school disco or going to take to the cinema (if he says yes).

Am I really very detached from the real world where all these young girls need contraceptive support?

Now don't get me wrong, I would prefer a 10 year old to have an implant than a baby but I really worry about a society where this is necessary

[ChinaTeaSet]

It's a Daily Mail article. Nuff said.

You can rest easy. No need to panic. :)

[ToffeeCaramel]

I have a ten year old dd and my experience of her class is the same as yours op.

[dementedpixie]

my dd is 11 and has no interest in boys whatsoever.

[NotYouNaanBread]

Well, DM and all that. But according to the National Statistics Office (and quoting the Telegraph) "Between 2000 and 2007, a total of 15 ten year olds and 39 aged 11 fell pregnant in England and Wales".

So very, very few. And few enough for exceptionally sad circumstances, chaotic homes and/or rape to be at the root of it, rather than some kind of horrific norm.

[Notrevealingmyidentity]

I had assumed the 10 year olds were having implants to regulate their periods or similar ?

[MouseInTheSkirting]

I'm a teacher. On a residential school trip I caught a boy and a girl, 11 years old, kissing with hands down each other's pants. I was horrified. It's not as far from reality as you'd hope.

[GaryBaldy]

I have a 10 yo DD - same experience as everyone else.

[TheEnduringMoment]

This is what you get for reading the Daily Mail OP. The numbers were miniscule out of the hundreds of thousands of girls of that age in the country, and there was absolutely no distinction recorded between implant use for contraception and use for period or other hormone control in girls with early puberty.

[NotYouNaanBread]

Okay, can't find the DM link, but here's the Telegraph link.

"Two girls of 10 are among thousands of NHS cases in which the long-acting contraceptive devices have been implanted in those below the age of 16."

NHS trusts said the decision had been taken in “exceptional circumstances” and in order to safeguard a child, or for health reasons.

Heartbreaking for those two girls to be at such awful risk, but not any kind of new normal

[mywholelifeisaheadache]

I have a 10 year old girl and she finds boys silly and funny. She has a 'boyfriend' who she talks to in class and they exchange birthday presents but never see each other outside school! She's innocent in an educated manner And laughs when you say balls (even mentioning ed balls does it!)
I can't imagine her or her peers being sexually active they're all still little girls

[HowCanIMissYouIfYouWontGoAway]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/nhs/11370078/10-year-old-girls-given-contraceptive-implants-by-NHS.html

10,000 in total to under 16s in the last 5 years.

Two girls aged 10
56 girls aged 12 or younger
281 13 yr olds
More than 3,000 14 yr olds
over 6,000 implants given to 15-year-olds

61 out of 600 trusts responded to the query

The sentence I think probably explains it is this one "NHS trusts said the decision had been taken in “exceptional circumstances” and in order to safeguard a child, or for health reasons."

I hope that they are on health grounds, perhaps for reasons relating to periods but the part about safeguarding made me go cold all over. Instead of getting a child out of a situation - put her on contraceptives? I hope that's not the case.

But from reading the article it is clear that it is a tiny number of children and is not a decision made lightly and is likely to be made by a team of people to help the child.

I also noted the concerns about the long term effects. I don't know what they are so can't comment.

[Bogeyface]

Sadly, being sexually active at 10 does not necessarily mean being consensually sexually active at 10. Yes I know in law they cant give consent anyway, but I hope ykwim. I would imagine that the vast majority would be if not actually raped in terms of forced sex (although I am sure some are), but coerced or victims of sexual abuse within a familial situation.

Also, sexual precocity can suggest previous abuse. Its nothing new to those poor children, its far more likely that these children have been or are being damaged by what is being done to them, rather than an active choice to engage in sexual activity with a full understanding of what they are doing.

[CalicoBlue]

As the article says this is extreme circumstances.

A few years ago I was talking to someone who worked for one of the children's charities. She told me she worked in the sexual exploitation unit. Innocently I asked what that had to do with children, and why was it a local unit for a part of a big city. The stories she told me horrified me. Primary school kids found having sex at school, under age incest which the parents did not see anything wrong with, pimps grooming girls at primary school...This was all within one borough.

Remembering the stories she told me I am surprised it is only 2.

I would expect that that for MN mums the lives of these poor kids are very far removed from the experiences of our own kids.

[StrumpersPlunkett]

thank you all,
I agree about it being a sign of abuse, however I do assume (perhaps very wrongly) that if the implant is needed to protect against pregnancy from rape or sexual assault then the child would be removed from that situation rather than be given an implant. (given the understanding that no 10 year old can consent legally to any sexual act)

I am also relieved about the numbers, very sad for the children involved but as you have almost all said not a new norm.. PHEW!

[MrsGoslingWannabe]

I'm still shocked at 6000 15 year olds having implants. That's obviously just so they can have sex. Why such a rush? Sad.

[Notrevealingmyidentity]

It's obvious thats what it's for that all.

It might be for health reasons or it might be just case.

[Notrevealingmyidentity]

Not obvious*

[YoullShootYourEyeOut]

My 10 year old is nowhere near that stage and neither are her friends (that I know of). Daily Mail is full of crap.

[CalicoBlue]

I'm still shocked at 6000 15 year olds having implants

58,000 of them are on the pill.

[fudgeberries]

I had horrendously painful and heavy periods when I was a teenager so I went on the pill (I was given a choice of the pill or implant) at 14. It was that or have a week off school every month because I couldn't function. I wasn't sexually active, it was medically necessary and it improved my quality of life. I have no doubt that many of the girls who make up these statistics had similar reasons for being offered contraception. Although obviously my story and others like it won't appeal to the readers of the Daily Mail in the same way as "NHS enabling 10 year olds to have sex shocker!!"etc. is sure to.

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

I would have thought it is because they are for health reasons or that they are victims of long term sexual abuse that has sexualised their behaviour to an extent that usual safeguards and protections aren't working.

Either way the reporting about 10 year Olds having sex is really appalling. These are child rape victims.

[ghostyslovesheep]

totally agree with Tond - and the article is just taking very vague figures and turning them into a massive drama (I suspect - I don't read the Fail) - which is kind of their thing anyway

[LRB978]

By the age of 13, my periods were so painful, I was having a day off school most months. If I had been offered the pill/injection/implant and pain free time, I would have grabbed it with both hands. Yet I would have joined the statistics above. Equally, there may be young girls with severe disabilities on long term contraceptives, again to regulate or prevent periods. Contraceptives aren't only used to prevent pregnancies

[OrionsAccessory]

I was on the pill from the age of 11 to help with my horrendous periods. I didn't have sex for the first time until I was 19.

[Triooooooooooo]

My severely disabled, none verbal niece is on the pill........jt certainly isnt because of her rampant sex life, it's to stop her periods !