Sex education for 6 year old grandson at school.....REALLY??? — Scope | Disability forum
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Sex education for 6 year old grandson at school.....REALLY???

cornishmaid
cornishmaid Community member Posts: 20 Courageous
edited June 2018 in Coffee lounge
Good morning everyone :)  My daughter was informed by the primary school that Rhys would be starting sex education, hes only just 6 and in my opinion is barely past a baby.  Surprisingly she was horrified (I thought the only reason I was is because im a dinosaur) Her immediate remark was 'its not happening'.  Looking on line there is conflicting information as to whether a parent can exclude their child.  It seems this is Mandatory, which indicates to me she cannot pull him out.  Does anybody have any advice or knowledge please??

Comments

  • fishingmum
    fishingmum Community member Posts: 562 Pioneering
    morning @cornishmaid, it is becoming compulsary for sex education, and they seem to believe if they start younger it would then be less likely for teenage pregnancies, spread of std's and less likely for abuse in a relationship to happen.
    From what I have seen, it is mostly about relationships, rather than actual sex. Also a lot of it is about accepting people who are different sexual orientation to yourself. Then they build on it, so sex is not an embarrassing thing to talk about and children are more open so when they are young adults they are less likely to feel peer pressure when deciding on how to move forward in a relationship.
    Hope this helps.
    life is too short to let others make you miserable.
  • Waylay
    Waylay Community member, Scope Member Posts: 973 Pioneering
    Don't know how it works here in the UK, as I was in Quebec, Canada at that age, but my experience was as follows:

    We started at age 6 too, but it wasn't the birds and the bees! The first year or two were things like, "What are the differences between boys and girls?" 

    Then we got split up into single-sex groups and each group learned about their own biology. It wasn't crazy in depth (I think we were 8), but things like "Hey girls, you know how your Mum has breasts? Well, someday you're going to grow them too! It could start anytime from next year to many years from now, but don't worry, it doesn't matter how old you are when it happens." We talked about menstruation, too, in a positive way: like how it meant that we'd be able to have babies someday.* 
    The next year we learned about the opposite sex's biology. 

    I think we were 10 before we started learning about sex, but even then it was really tame. Things like, "When a husband and wife (Catholic province, mid 80's, but a non-denominational school) decide that they want to have a baby, they do something together that's called "making love". The man uses his penis to give the woman sperm. Women have little tiny eggs, and she mixes the sperm with an egg. Then the baby starts growing in her tummy."

    Later we learned the ins and outs (ha!), all the kinds of contraception (and we were shown how they worked), and we discussed what healthy relationships were, why you should never pressure someone to have sex, etc. We did skits about how to talk honestly about sex, how you'd tell your parents if you got pregnant, etc.

    I thought it was really good, personally. I was well prepared when I finally started actually having sex (at 18 - late bloomer!).

    Maybe your daughter could ask to see what they're taught each year? 
    *I already knew about it by then because women in my family have always started puberty early, so my Mum started telling me about it when I was 8. My breasts started growing when I was 9, and I got my first period at 10 (at camp! First period, bad cramps, middle of the night, Port-A-Loos, insane mosquitos. Ugh.
  • aaronw3440
    aaronw3440 Community member Posts: 54 Courageous
    edited June 2018
    When i was in primary sex education didn't start until year 5 which the age was 8 or 9 years old which was well over a decade ago I'm now 22 and usually had to have a parents consent and they'd split the boys and girls up and mainly focused on puberty and girls getting their periods and how their bodies are changing  the main bit of sex education doesn't really start until they get into high school 
  • cornishmaid
    cornishmaid Community member Posts: 20 Courageous
    Thank you to everyone for your replies.  It has helped me a lot and obviously I will show my daughter the replies.  I'm still of the opinion its far too young but I feel better having read all the replies that if we have no choice but to allow it, its not as explicit as I originally feared.
    Thanks again everyone  :)
  • whistles
    whistles Community member Posts: 1,583 Disability Gamechanger
    I recall a class that my mum was horrified about when I came home and told her what I did that day.
    It was just looking at how the baby grows in the tummy and there were little plastic babies of varying sizes that you could play with. 
    I didn't play with dolls so I didn't want that toy. That's how I viewed it. Didn't enter my head about how it got there, it just did. Kids are pretty matter of fact so why would I query that.

    But as for the rest of it, we were aged 11. My mum was again horrified by what I brought home a a freebie! It was relationships, changing bodies, love, the right to say no etc.

    The world has changed so much. Kids get curious. I would rather they covered things at school than let them discover it online.
    Do not follow me, I don't know where I am going.

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