What do you think about Obama wanting Kindergarten to learn about sex education?

Question

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1869427/posts

I think this is insane. A 5 or 6 year old doesn't need sex education at their age. They already have enough stupid classes that they are forced to take that they don't need. There's no reason to throw in sex education. A 5 year old doesn't even know what sex is so why should they learn it? My kids wouldn't be going to school at all if I found out they'd be forced to have sex education. I don't think it's right to force sex education on a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds. Parents and teachers what do you think about this?

Answer 1

Are you serious? I haven't heard that!!! I would never want my child to learn about sex at that age. If anyone is going to talk to them about it it's going to be me!! Either way that's ridiculous!!

Answer 2

I think it is a novel idea!

Sex education should be taught from birth. The key words in that article are "age appropriate". They are not suggesting we tell Kindergarteners the details of intercourse, but the differences between boys and girls, the proper names for their body parts (too many parents are too ashamed to say penis and vagina, so they teach them ridiculous names such as weenie and tutu), and what abuse is.

Sex education should be an ongoing topic of conversation from the beginning. We need to get past the taboos and prepare our children. Many children do not have any form of sex education until fifth grade-girls are starting to menstruate before then and need factual knowledge.

While I do believe that abstinence should be encouraged, and that marriage is a prerequisite to sex and babies-that is just not reality. Children need to be taught about STDs, birth control, etc. They need to know what is happening to their bodies. Not in kindergarten, mind you-but it does need to be an ongoing topic. It is not just a one-conversation thing that should take place when a child is a certain age.

The taboo surrounding sex, and the lack of appropriate education, is the reason why Yahoo! Answers is full of questions from 14 year olds asking if they can get pregnant from kissing someone with their clothes on, or people who do not understand how their cycles work. It is SAD.

I am a mother AND a teacher (I homeschool my own children, and I teach other children in other programs). I am also a Christian woman that raises my children to believe in our morals and ethics. HOWEVER-I will also provide them with the information they need to protect themselves, as well as the tools (condoms, birth control, etc). Things happen, and they do not need to suffer the rest of their life because of a mistake. My children WILL be educated. All children should be.

Answer 3

Sex education SHOULD start early and in the home. I started teaching my daughter when she became interested at the age of two. She loved to look through my "Joy of Birth" book and ask questions. Parents are the first, and most important teachers in a child's life. What they learn in the cradle is what they take with them when they start leaving the home for school, friends etc. Good values and a knowledge of who they are, including their anatomy and the fact that they decide how it is to be used comes from the home.

Answer 4

Although a 5 or 6 year old is kinda young to learn about this, it is important for children to be informed. If your child were to be abused in some way, wouldn't you want them to know to come to you instead of thinking they are dirty and alone. At this age some kids find out about it by seeing their parents and want to try it out themselves. They should know that it is normal but something they shouldnt be doing it until they are older. I would say that a good age to learn about this is probably 7 or 8.

Answer 5

Kindergartners are getting expelled for sexual harassment that would have been passed of as curiosity and harmless in past years. If we as parents are going to become outraged when kids do normal exploring then we have to be prepared to educate them about sexual topics.
Personally I think that we are forcing our kids to grow up too quickly by being hyper sensitive to issues like this. I'm sure if sex education was implemented at this level it would be age appropriate without any graphic pictures or information.

Answer 6

I think his response to that was blown up and taken out of proportion. What i believe he wants is sex education and not abstinence only education. For 5 to 6 year olds he just wants them to know that it is not okay for someone to touch their privates, you know good touch and bad. For example when my children's doctor examines them she says it is okay for the doctor or you parents to touch your privates but not okay for anyone else too. Some kids are not taught anything at all due to people being afraid to talk about it, then they are molested by a relative or stranger and they don't even know that what is happening is wrong. I don't think he plans to educate kids about sex or having sex just about what is appropriate or not appropriate. I think that he clarifified his statement later. I don't think a 5 or 6 year old needs to know much about sex or that they could even understand it but they should be warned about whether or not they are being hurt by someone. They should also know that no one should be touching them.

Answer 7

"Sex education entered the 2008 presidential race when Obama was asked his position on sex education at a Planned Parenthood forum and he mimicked an attack that was launched on him in his 2004 Senate campaign by Republican Alan Keyes.

"'Barack Obama supports teaching sex education to kindergarteners,'" said Obama mimicking Keyes' distinctive style of speech. "Which -- I didn't know what to tell him (laughter)."

"But it's the right thing to do," Obama continued, "to provide age-appropriate sex education, science-based sex education in schools."

And where do you get "forced" out of that? And just what kind of sex education do you think they would be given? What kind of English or Science education is given to kindergartner?

Listen to what the candidates say. Not what the reporters tell you they think they said. Don't listen to "sound bites". Don't dislike someone just because he's from Illinois and Democrat. Read their literature. Read what they said in previous campaigns. Study the candidate.

Answer 8

It's a double edged sword. On the one hand, I want my daughter to grow up informed, so she knows when someone is trying to abuse or take advantage of her. On the other hand, I don't want her to start having sex at an early age, because she's being exposed to it while she's very young.

I think the place for sex education is in the home. If parents were doing their job, the schools wouldn't have to address this issue.

Answer 9

No, everybody is interpreting incorrectly what is going on here.
Obama doesn't kindergartners learning everything about sex.

What Obama wants:

So, at this point at least, what Obama is referring to is teaching five year olds about inappropriate touching. The Obama campaign also tells The Brody File that parents would be able to opt out. As for further details, the touching aspect seems to be the main idea here. Obama doesn't want to hand out condoms to five year olds. He doesn't want cucumber demonstrations as part of show and tell. The legitimate reasonable discussion here is whether the federal government and/or local school boards should get involved in providing these five year olds information about inappropriate touching or should it be left up to families only.
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/198169.aspx


So many children are abused by their parents. They may not know what to do or some are told by their parents that it is "normal" to have sex with your mom or dad.

Those children deserve to know that it's wrong and they deserve to know what to do in those situations.


Read the articles that I have posted.

Edit:
All sex education classes are optional, but do you really think that from stopping your children from going will work against the other children telling them what they learned in class?

Your child will learn about sex from other children as children are sexually curious and may even "experiment."

Have you heard of playing doctor?
I remember when I was in 8th grade this boy raped his sister. They were playing "doctor" and he forced her to have sex with him.

Answer 10

first of all, all sex ed is optional, even at highschool level. Parents have to give permission for their kids to take the class. A kindergarten level sex ed class would be very non offensive, nothing graphic, and mostly focused on "bad touching" to keep kids safe from sexual predators. But kids should know where babies come from anyway!!! I certainly knew by 5, and it did not warp me morally or sexually. My son knows that a mommy and a daddy make a baby, he doesn't necessaraly know about the sex act. But he has seen me and his father naked, and knows that men are made different than women. He alos knows that babies come out of a special place in a mommy's body, and its a natural thing, not something to fear of be ashamed of.

Ultamatily, its the parents choice to teach their kids the truth, or let them learn through playground rumors. I prefer the first option.

Answer 11

isn't it optional or you must put your kid there?..(yes it's optional of course)..so why do you care
but if you wanted my opinion i think it's a veryyy silly thing to make a 5 years old child know about these things while he doesn't care of any thing but playing with toys
i think it's a reaction from the society to try to terminate bad things like having sex in a very young age in egypt there is nothing called a g/f or a b/f there is only husband & wife or fiance and ppl don't have sex until they are married so they care a lot a bout haymen things......
but i think this will not work cuz they don't need to teach s.ex but they need to make their behavior better ...... i think that (society in egypt is better ) & i think that islam & qur'an are the reasons


hope that was useful......i didn't mean to be rude or anything ..... but it's my point of view .... sorry ppl
thanx and Bye


oh by the way sometimes i need to tell you somethings and i can't find you cuz you don't allow e-mails .....so please please please please please e-mail me and tell me your e-mail
also i'm not stubid or something i'll e-mail you when it's important only
i wish if i could stay more but..............
sorry i have to go now
it's 5:03 am in cairo now i have to pray Al-fajr
good luck

thanx Bye