shocked parents still think like this

[maypole1]

Just reading the mums net sex education survey, and 3 people think sex should not be taught in schools at all

Who are these people and all though the number is small I still cant believe people still think like this.

WW I love a good question...its my job...but when a parent takes themselves out of the issue you are looking to a book or person who does not care about them to give them purely 'information' to teach them about love and life

Mumcentreplus you still haven't answered my question what do the children do whose parents are shutting down sex ed debate be vase their abusing their child or feeding their child mis information due to religious beliefs

Please tell me what they do if the school dose not step in??????

may the school will give them information...when a child is being abused this is something different, religious belief does not mean bad advice...bad people mean bad advice...

From what I've seen on this thread, quite a few parents love the idea of who they would like their children to be more than they love the child they actually have.

Children need impartial advice. The child might be gay, might want to only have sex after marriage, might want to be a mother at 16, might want to have 5 children, might want to only have sex with somebody they love.

And there are a number of posters on here quite ready to condemn another mother for condemning one of the above, but then quite happy to say they want their child to avoid XYZ.

Thank goodness for schools, who do actually care about the child, rather than the idea of what the child should be.

I do not believe sex ed should not be taught...but parents have to be involved and what is 'accepted' behavior is not always the best behavior...

Mumcentreplus some children have innaprorate Parents should they be involved?

Why when a child is being abused is if different the whole thing is up until the child has sex ed without parents involvement you may not know a child is being abused.

I gave serval examples why children need impartial advice as parents are not likely to own up to being inaprorate and may have sinster reasons for wanting to be in control of their child sex ed.

Agreed, there are so many reasons to have impartial sex ed - whether it is children being or at risk of abuse, children at risk of forced or cousin marriages or children whose parents just don't teach what they should be teaching.

For those posters who have religious or other belieifs they want to teach their children - sex within marriage, abstinence as birth control etc - great, teach it on top of the school curriculum. Presumably you do that on top of the school RE curriculum anyway . But please, don't let all those other at risk children suffer for your personal beliefs.

Amerryscot:
'Two evaluations?Iowa's and the Pennsylvania Fulton County program?compared the impact of comprehensive sex education with that of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.

In Iowa, abstinence-only students were slightly more likely than comprehensive sex education participants to feel strongly about wanting to postpone sex, but less likely to feel that their goals should not include teen pregnancy. <span class="italic">There was little to no difference between the abstinence-only students and those in the comprehensive sex education program in understanding of why they should wait to have sex</span>. Evaluation did not include comparison of data on the sexual behavior of participants in the two types of programs.
In Fulton County, Pennsylvania, results found few to no differences between the abstinence-only and comprehensive approaches in attitudes towards sexual behavior. Evaluators found that, regardless of which program was implemented in the seventh and eighth grades, sexual attitudes, intentions, and behaviors were similar by the end of the 10th grade.'

C&Pd from this report.

So I agree with you, based on my highlighted bit, that the values need to be taught at home and that this is the job of parents beginning on Day One. However, I see a great need for the nuts and bolts to be taught at school and in particular I think there is a need for all students, both boys and girls, to be taught about effective contraception, and to be taught that No means No (this isn't necessarily going to be taught in every home). There are still parents who think it will all sort itself out. There is probably no sex ed programme that will fully mitigate the effects of a childhood that leaves a young person prey to the promise of an inappropriate sexual escapade or relationship, but knowing the facts is nevertheless important.

ooh I love having insomnia...

Its all well and good saying as a parent you want to be the one to teach your child about sex and all that it entails.. but it doesnt work.

All children deserve to be given broad and unbiased facts. If a parent has been in only one good solid relationship, then they have no experience to educate their child about domestic violence and how to spot the signs. If a parent has been in multiple disfunctional relationships, then they have experience, but may not even know themselves what constitutes a good healthy relationship. Their kids do deserve to be told.

You as a parent may not believe that a gay lifestyle is right, but that doesnt stop your child being gay.

Once your child starts to reach puberty, they are entitled to their own beliefs and their own choices within reason and within the law.

If sex and relationship education is part of the curriculum, covering health, personal safety, boundaries, then it enables that child to be better equipped and more confident to deal with what might be thrown at them over the next few years. It should be taught fairly and without prejudice, and it should be impartial.

By all means as parents, explain to your children about how pro-creation occurs, but allow your child to have the opportunity to make their own choices rather than trying to enforce your beliefs onto them.

In an ideal world parents would be the people to teach their children about sex and relationships, but some people find it difficult to be impartial and we all have our own bias. I agree that children need to be taught the facts and given a good foundation for them to be able to make their own decisions about what is right for them in the future without carrying their parents' prejudices with them.

My DD is 5 and she knows where babies come from (but not how they get there), she knows that babies are made when a man and a lady love each other, she knows what breasts are for and she knows what periods are. She knows that some men love men and some women love women. She knows that if someone loves you they are kind to you and make you happy and don't boss you about - she knows that works both ways!

Where the reality is different from those stark facts (e.g. my friend and her female partner are considering starting a family at some point) we will discuss those on an 'as they arise' basis. She doesn't need everything all at once.

It's quite easy at the moment because she's fascinated by people being "in love" at the moment so it provides us with lots of opportunities to discuss!

Bun- you keep saying your DD simply won't listen to sex Ed, but surely you need to explore th reasons why rather than just throwing your hands up and accepting it as a insurmountable problem? She seems to be embarrassed to discuss it, but that's no biggie surely? She just needs a comfortable environment to discuss her embarrassment and concerns.

I think she just doesn't want to hear it from me.
Maybe some children prefer to have this information from an impartial source.

When she was smaller I always answered questions on where babies came from truthfully, but appropriate to her age. I also think that most of her friends knew about periods from when their mothers were having them. I don't have them any more so DD has never seen any of the "accessories" required, and therefore never asked "what are those?". (Well she did when she was three, but I felt that was too young to talk to her about periods).

When my children did go to school, I opted out of school teaching any sex ed.
Didn't believe and still don't, that they would do a better job than me. I have the knowledge and the ability and know my children better than anyone else.

Also my children have a potentially life threatening condition which will affect them when they are pregnant-and this has to be incorporated into contraception advice-and the teachers had already clearly demonstrated a complete and utter inability to understand plain in English and basic science on this subject

Some parents may not have the knowledge or the ability and want school to do it.
IMO it should be offered and optional.

julienoshoes - I still don't get why sex ed in school would prevent you from teaching your children yourself, too? It's not bolean, is it?

I've no idea what that lifethreatening condition that needs to be incorporated into contraception advice is - you're being rather cryptic there - but I can't see why school sex ed would get in the way of you giving your children specific contraception advice.

"IMO it should be offered and optional."

But it is.

I think that if your child is the only one withdrawn from the lesson some of the other children might remark on it though.