Excellent article, giving good advice and information. Thanks for sharing what you know. I didn’t know what was being taught! Scary!
Parents also need to take the first step, not wait for kids to ask questions. A police officer who investigates child sexual predators spoke to our Relief Society about protecting kids. He said that parents need to start talking to kids as soon as they can communicate and walk around. You start very simply and don’t go too deep. As they get older, you gradually give them more information, appropriate to their age.
If you wait until you think they are old enough, you may be too late. He worked with a six-year old girl who had sent nude photos to someone. An 11 year-old boy was blackmailed into doing the same thing in his own bedroom, while his parents were in the next room. Their parents were active members, good parents, who simply didn’t think their was a chance for their kids to be approached for this kind of thing. Cell phones can be a major danger. If young children need a phone, maybe don’t give them internet access. If parents want them to have internet, he suggested gathering all the cell phones when kids get home and locking them in the parents’ bedroom,
Abuse is occurring to children at younger and younger ages. They need to be prepared,
As to sex education, parents need to fight for a program that represents their values, it isn’t the government’s right to teach religious values. Telling kids that experimenting is okay is teaching a government-established religious belief. Schools should teach biological reproduction and let parents teach the rest. Schools should use that time to teach kids how to balance a budget, save money for the future, and how to keep a job!
Alice Fisher RobertsAugust 1, 2018
The creek analogy is a really poor one. Is the author suggesting it would have been better for her parents to not teach her about the creek? Ignorance is not safety.
Age appropriate lessons on sexuality and intimacy need to start at home at young ages. I get the concerns with introducing ideas to kids before they’re ready for them, but the messages are out there, and if we do not act and teach our children, they will learn from other teens, movies, or porn and the messages will be far more damaging with their inaccuracy.
DisappointedJuly 31, 2018
If all parents would teach their children correctly about sex, the schools wouldn’t need to do it. The problem is most parents don’t or have just one big “sex talk”.
Governments step in to do jobs that others are unwilling or unable to do.
I agree with the assertion that there is too much sexualization in Western culture but the assertion that teaching children that sex can be pleasurable leads them to have premarital sex is not convincing. This is not an objective data based post, or even fully based on morals (e.g. read Elder Holland’s talk On Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments.)
Concerned GrandparentJuly 31, 2018
On this theme, it seems that co-ed sexuality education is problematic. When both genders are educated together, the topic is opened and normalized between them, which can drop natural barriers and lead to serious problems. It seems important that this be recognized and changed.
STJuly 31, 2018
Wow! I can’t believe how messed up our world has become! Why is this being taught in schools? This is a subject every parent should discuss with their children in their own homes. Children are curious but they are also innocent. If they ask questions they should be answered honestly and correctly but children do not need or are ready for any detailed sexual information. We should never regard sexual interest as bad either and never make our children feel quilty for asking questions or exploring, which they will do. These organizations just sound like a bunch of pedafiles trying to recruit innocent children.
Kathy ChambersJuly 31, 2018
Bravo Sister John! Thanks for the informative article. Since the federal government is making too many decisions about what and how subjects are taught in school, it is hard to make positive changes within our communities and local schools. What can I as a grandmother do? Sincerely Kathy
Gordon AmisonJuly 31, 2018
What a brilliant article from someone so young. We need more people like her in politics and law instead of the self aggrandised charlatans we have now.
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ViolaAugust 1, 2018
Excellent article, giving good advice and information. Thanks for sharing what you know. I didn’t know what was being taught! Scary! Parents also need to take the first step, not wait for kids to ask questions. A police officer who investigates child sexual predators spoke to our Relief Society about protecting kids. He said that parents need to start talking to kids as soon as they can communicate and walk around. You start very simply and don’t go too deep. As they get older, you gradually give them more information, appropriate to their age. If you wait until you think they are old enough, you may be too late. He worked with a six-year old girl who had sent nude photos to someone. An 11 year-old boy was blackmailed into doing the same thing in his own bedroom, while his parents were in the next room. Their parents were active members, good parents, who simply didn’t think their was a chance for their kids to be approached for this kind of thing. Cell phones can be a major danger. If young children need a phone, maybe don’t give them internet access. If parents want them to have internet, he suggested gathering all the cell phones when kids get home and locking them in the parents’ bedroom, Abuse is occurring to children at younger and younger ages. They need to be prepared, As to sex education, parents need to fight for a program that represents their values, it isn’t the government’s right to teach religious values. Telling kids that experimenting is okay is teaching a government-established religious belief. Schools should teach biological reproduction and let parents teach the rest. Schools should use that time to teach kids how to balance a budget, save money for the future, and how to keep a job!
Alice Fisher RobertsAugust 1, 2018
The creek analogy is a really poor one. Is the author suggesting it would have been better for her parents to not teach her about the creek? Ignorance is not safety. Age appropriate lessons on sexuality and intimacy need to start at home at young ages. I get the concerns with introducing ideas to kids before they’re ready for them, but the messages are out there, and if we do not act and teach our children, they will learn from other teens, movies, or porn and the messages will be far more damaging with their inaccuracy.
DisappointedJuly 31, 2018
If all parents would teach their children correctly about sex, the schools wouldn’t need to do it. The problem is most parents don’t or have just one big “sex talk”. Governments step in to do jobs that others are unwilling or unable to do. I agree with the assertion that there is too much sexualization in Western culture but the assertion that teaching children that sex can be pleasurable leads them to have premarital sex is not convincing. This is not an objective data based post, or even fully based on morals (e.g. read Elder Holland’s talk On Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments.)
Concerned GrandparentJuly 31, 2018
On this theme, it seems that co-ed sexuality education is problematic. When both genders are educated together, the topic is opened and normalized between them, which can drop natural barriers and lead to serious problems. It seems important that this be recognized and changed.
STJuly 31, 2018
Wow! I can’t believe how messed up our world has become! Why is this being taught in schools? This is a subject every parent should discuss with their children in their own homes. Children are curious but they are also innocent. If they ask questions they should be answered honestly and correctly but children do not need or are ready for any detailed sexual information. We should never regard sexual interest as bad either and never make our children feel quilty for asking questions or exploring, which they will do. These organizations just sound like a bunch of pedafiles trying to recruit innocent children.
Kathy ChambersJuly 31, 2018
Bravo Sister John! Thanks for the informative article. Since the federal government is making too many decisions about what and how subjects are taught in school, it is hard to make positive changes within our communities and local schools. What can I as a grandmother do? Sincerely Kathy
Gordon AmisonJuly 31, 2018
What a brilliant article from someone so young. We need more people like her in politics and law instead of the self aggrandised charlatans we have now.
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