who should educate your child state or you ?

[Isdore]

I am worried about something and i would like us parent to take action against this trend of eroding parental responsibility. I feel the state wants to take away of our role has parents.

i have 3yr old (to young yet !) i am very worried about this !! :( :(

Please don't take the guidlines at face value-ask your school what content they are using

we need to write our MPs : stoprse.com/index.php/contact-your-local-mp/

They going to expose our children to sexualise content at the age of 3 on wards. They will decide(guidelines) this in the next 2 months

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/235053 - please share this

Currently (January 2019) a subject known as Sex & Relationship Education (SRE) is taught in some UK schools; it is not compulsory and parents can withdraw their children.

However, the law is changing ….

• From 1st September, 2020 Relationship Education will be taught as compulsory in all primary schools across England (from Reception Class upwards).

• From 1st September, 2020 Relationship & Sex Education (RSE) will be taught as compulsory across all secondary schools across England.

• The government has produced draft guidelines (July 2018) on what must be taught but these are currently vague and minimal. However, they do state that L_G+B+T+ issues must be taught to all children and recommend that these issues are taught across the entire school curriculum. We are currently awaiting the finalised guidelines which should be produced in Spring 2019.

• Schools must develop their own Relationship Ed/RSE policy and curriculum and are free to determine how to teach Relationship Ed/RSE issues. Schools are free to choose whichever Relationship Ed/RSE resources they decide upon; however, the guidelines state these must be ‘age-appropriate’ and sensitive to the needs of the pupils.

• The draft guidelines clearly state that schools must work and consult with parents on the development of the Relationship Ed/RSE policy and the curriculum it uses.

I have also heard rumours that they are going after home schooling under the pretext of "boogy monster topics you see in news"! its unacceptable.

Has a catholic and parent we should have the rights and freedom to choose whats best for our children not the state or the lobby groups!

We believe it is the parent’s fundamental right to teach their child RSE topics or to at least decide who teaches them and when and how they are taught. We want the right to opt our children out of RSE when it becomes mandatory in Sept 2020.

More details
We have grave concerns about the physical, psychological and spiritual implications of teaching children about certain sexual and relational concepts proposed in RSE and believe that they have no place within a mandatory school curriculum.

We believe the above factors have not been given enough consideration and that many of the RSE resources being produced by lobby groups and external organisations will actually cause more harm than good, particularly when child development and psychological factors are considered.

Have you considered that your child might be gay? Or have a friend who is gay? Or watch CBeebies and see a gay partnership? Or walk down the road and see two people of the same sex holding hands and kissing?
What is your fear exactly??
No amount of pretending it doesn’t exist is going to make that the truth.

@creativeusername unfortunately there are children who grow up in religions who don't except LGBT and while i don't agree with that telling a child that their parents views are wrong is only going to lead to complaints. in my school in religious education i remember a boy who was jehovas witness saying if you aren't a jehova they you can't be a true christian and everyone being up in arms about it. our teacher was really good and said we all have different views and need to work on respect to each others views. telling a child their parent is wrong is going to alienate a child from their teaching. they are going to believe what their parent tells them when they are little without question.
also my four year old son giggles at the word bottom. its just bathroom humour but he would be in hysterics at the mention of a sex ed class.
i have friends who are gay and they don't want their kids learning about sex and how babies come into the world at a very young age as their child was born via a surrogate mother and right now they see their dads as their dads and they feel the need to explain the delicate situation of biology and their biological mother in their own time without fear of their child feeling left by another parent and that one of their dads is less valid. they certainly don't want another child telling them they are only related to one of their parents.
in our society we used to have hippies, workaholics, beach bums, divas etc. and everyone knew about differing views. in todays world people keep wanting to put people into the same box to believe the same things and we don't and it makes people think your evil if you have a religion or are like this. unfortunately the amount of homophobic people mounts to thousands in the UK. You can't get to them all. when i was working as a teaching assistant and came across kids coming with different views i tried to guide them into respect and tolerance but you can't come out and say your parents are evil to a seven year old

@dolphin50 I work at an inner city school non-faith school with a very high population of religious children and have been told "men are not allowed to marry other men" and even "my dad says you shouldn't be allowed to be a teacher because mums are meant to stay in their house" (by 5 year olds)
I did challenge those ideas but in a respectful way. I would never say "your parent is wrong/evil/homophobic/sexist" etc to a child, so apologies if that is how my previous post came across. However, I did say that actually in England, men are allowed to marry each other and mummies and daddies can choose to go to work, because that is fact. I haven't had a complaint about me yet, and if I did, I have faith that my head teacher would back me up as I haven't said anything disrespectful or even given my opinion on the topic. I suppose it depends on the school ethos though.

My 6yo believes in the tooth fairy just about. Father Christmas definitely. He is also familiar with the fact that men can marry men and women can marry women. (Not least because there are some same sex parents in the school). The two are not remotely mutually exclusive. I have spotted no detrimental ‘loss of innocence’.

I get that people beliefs are different and Catholic’s don’t believe in same sex relationships. But they exist and it’s the law so what if the harm in children knowing these facts?

If sex were being taught to three year olds I might agree with you. But it’s not so I don’t think we are on the same page...

if i saw what they were actually being taught than it might be okay but saying sex and relationship classes to 3 year olds makes me feel like WHY do kids this age need to know that

They won’t be learning that. Honestly. As lots of us have said already.
Pants rule - v important.
Lots of friendship stuff and learning that people are all different, respecting that etc.
Then in yr 5/6 it will be puberty and basic sex ed, discussion of consent/ no-one can make you do stuff you don’t want to etc, different kinds of relationships, gay, straight etc.

As an ex catholic I completely agree with this.

Just imagine if consent had been fully discussed openly in school and in home in thec60s and 70s. Perpetrators would have less vulnerable children to prey on.

There is no way I'd sign any such petition. People frothing at the mouth because "3 year olds are taught about sex" are the same level as those who believe that baa baa black sheep is "banned because it's racist". Because it is bollocks - they teach them personal, health and social education which includes being in charge of your own body, hygiene, the pants rule, what all the body parts are called etc etc in an age appropriate manner. No 3 / 4 / 5 year olds are taught the intimate details of sex, because that would be abuse.

DD's school does PHSE from reception.

In reception, they drew around each other on a great big bit of paper and labelled body parts (arm, leg, head etc) and talked about being friends and what it means.
And they gradually moved along the continuum up to year 5&6 where they talk about puberty, sex and relationships.

I teach my daughter, but I'd rather they all heard the same clear facts from a teacher all together than sharing rubbish around the playground.

I have no problem with this at all.

This discussion shows the perils of home education, and the fact that certain British values MUST trump those of the families.

A kid grows up in a family that believes you shouldn’t eat pork, or that you shouldn’t celebrate birthdays, or any other non-sensical, irrational, unfounded and unjustified limitation imposed by a religion? Fine, that’s easy to explain and address, everyone has different beliefs etc etc.

A kid grows up in family where, I don’t know, FGM or forced marriages are the norm, where it’s taught that women are inferior or shouldn’t work, that gays are evil, etc etc? No, not fine, no parent should have the the right to ‘educate’ their children in those beliefs, just like no parent should have the right to, say, educate their children in their Nazi beliefs and tell them that other races are inferior and must be wiped out.

I remember a discussion about the citizenship test (or whatever the technical term is); some acquaintances rolled their head at the banality of some of the concepts, but also recognised that, for people coming from certain countries, or even born here but in very segregated communities, reiterating that women have the right to work and that a husband cannot hit his wife is not as banal as it might seem.

of course children should know about LGBT and sex but i do think the parent should be the one to have this conversation with a child and not feel forced into it because at school next week we have to learn about this. some people grow maturely at different times and with school it is all very one size fits all but when it comes to this if the parents aren't going to teach this then they should know but no parents in my opinion should have to feel forced to you have to do it right now when we say. That is the state getting involved in your childs upbringing.
There are people who do believe awful things and bring their kids up to and that is awful but if someone believes a woman shouldn't work or a gay is evil its not going to affect the majority of women who work and gay men from feeling themselves. you can't send someone to prison for an opinion but i hope that kids who grow up with ignorant parents will find their own mind in time. the problem is though even if they are taught about LGBT they are still not going to agree with it if you bring it up early when children don't question their parents

It's a bit off topic but this is a really nice book - my son got quite into it when he was 6.

www.walker.co.uk/Let-s-Talk-About-Where-Babies-Come-From-9781406357868.aspx

It covers quite a few things like the mechanics of sex, same sex relationships, IVF and adoption without being too grown up. A friend recommended it to me.

I'm the lead teacher for PSHE and SRE in my school an responsible for writing policies, overseeing planning etc. Everything we are teaching is common sense and age appropriate with progression between year groups. OP you have nothing to worry about. If you are determined to avoid SRE you will have to home school from September. It's to protect children. Schools / nurseries have to share their policy with parents so you can ask to see it if you are concerned.

Righto.
So, children have always been abused from tiny childhood. I am 50. It was never mentioned throughout my state education. There were abusers in my secondary school ( middle school so from 9).
Children understand sexual orientation from a young age. I educate my children about that but am grateful to the school for doing that as well.
You can have your own stance and run that alongside what your children are taught in school. Youngest dd goes to a c of e school as it's the only school in town. We are atheist but are happy for her to be exposed to things we disagree with. It's part of her education.

What part of AGE APPROPRIATE are people not understanding?!

why does a 3 YEAR OLD need to know about sex.

They don't. But it might just be appropriate to teach a 3 year old that the parts covered by their underwear are private and nobody else is allowed to touch them there.

completely taking innocence away from a child.

Only if it's not AGE APPROPRIATE.

parents have very different views and children will listen to their parents more than a teacher. if a child grows up in a house where they think you go to hell for being gay than if they teach LGBT and some kid says my mummy says thats wrong to a child with LBGT parents its putting a teacher in an awkward position. they can't say thats right or wrong if a child has an opinion expressed by their parents especially not when a kid is 5.

The teacher can handle it in a sensitive and appropriate way.

Why is there this feeling that as soon as a child can talk they need to know about relationships.

Children ARE learning about relationships from even before they can talk. Why shouldn't healthy relationships (friendships, adult-child etc) be taught from a young age?

Talking to a small child about equality when they have no clue of the history behind the injustice is too much.

It will be AGE APPROPRIATE. Nobody's going to be giving a 3 year old a 3 hour lecture assuming prior knowledge of Rosa Parks, MLK and the Suffragettes. It might not be a bad idea to teach said 3 year old that it's fair if everybody get an equal turn being pencil monitor for the day.

when kids are learning to play and socialise they don't need to talk about things that i was learning about as a teenager.

They won't, because they'll be learning in an AGE APPROPRIATE way.

when i was 11 we had sex education and the teacher could hardly talk about it without the class being in hysterics. imagine having to teach 6 year olds about it.

Imagine trying to teach an 11 year old about sex, relationships and periods who had been given no prior preparation over the last 11 years. Nobody had taught the kid as a 3 year old that his privates were not for public display, and that nobody should touch him there. Nobody had taught him that he should be kind to other children in order to have friends. Nobody had taught him not to pull up the skirts of little girls in the playground as a 6 year old. Nobody had taught him the basic name for his penis, or a vagina. Because that's what age appropriate lessons do; they prepare a child for the next level up of learning when they are a bit older.

to me children shouldn't know about every detail of the adult world

Do you see now why that's not what's being proposed at all?

dolphin50 I have friends who are gay …. and they feel the need to explain the delicate situation of biology and their biological mother in their own time …. they certainly don't want another child telling them they are only related to one of their parents.

This is where I feel you friends are misguided. I'm an adoptive parent and we are advised to bring the children up knowing even if they don't fully understand. Just so there isn't a 'big reveal' later. So e.g. in your friends' situation - a photo somewhere in a book: 'This is Emma, you grew in her tummy.

What exactly do you think will happen if your kinds learn about same sex relationships?

I don't see any problems with it, and I too am catholic. My children have to catholic schools and youngest ds is still in high school. He gets taught that some people are gay, transgender etc, but is taught that they are no different to anyone else. There are a few gay teachers there, as well as gay children in relationships. The children accept it as the norm, which it is.

My children have been brought up knowing about different sex relationships etc, sex and periods (my dc are boys). Its all been age appropriate. I wish more parents were open with their children, mine several times in primary school said to their friends 'you need to ask your mum and dad about that', when children have been saying incorrect things, but I had always told them not to say anything in case their parents didn't want them to know. I find that a shame. That parents are willing to let their children go by with incorrect information, or worse still be subjected to teasing by their classmates.

So yes I'm all for a new curriculum, ensuring that children have age appropriate information around sex, relationships, etc, etc.

Can I just point out that most religious parents are fine with LGBT relationships. Of course there are some religious parents that aren't but there are also some atheist parents who aren't.
We have plenty of gay vicars and the Pope says it's fine to be gay.

“the Pope says it's fine to be gay.”

No he doesn’t.

"If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this in a beautiful way, saying…: 'no one should marginalize these people for this, they must be integrated into society." - Pope Francis, July 2013

"When a person (who is gay) arrives before Jesus, Jesus certainly will not say, 'Go away because you are homosexual." - Pope Francis, October 2016

"You know Juan Carlos, that does not matter. God made you like this. God loves you like this. The Pope loves you like this and you should love yourself and not worry about what people say." - Pope Francis talking to Juan Carlos Cruz, who identifies as a homosexual, about his sexuality in April 2018

He is against same sex marriage and gay clergy but otherwise he does, indeed, say it is fine to be gay.

It's fine to be gay. Unless god forbid you want to get married. Because that would be "an anthropological regression."

And they certainly can't let someone with "that kind ingrained tendency" be ordained. But apart from that, yeah, he's totally cool with it all.

Btw, that same part of the Catechism also says: "Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that 'homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered'. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved."

I'm pretty ok with the government doing this. Thanks for asking.

Just had a quick look at their website. They're homophobic nutjobs who compare teaching sex education to the Hitler youth and want to take us back to the 20s FFS.