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Sex Education – Whose Job?

It’s that time of year again. No, I’m not talking about Christmas. I’m talking about s*x education in school.

My daughter brought home a consent form that the parent must sign if they want their child to receive s*x education in school. Attached to the consent form was a syllabus of the topics to be covered during the class.

As I am reading over the topics, I’m thinking “OMG! Is my daughter old enough to hear this already?” The last time I checked, she was still playing with Webkinz. Obviously, the school system seems to think she is old enough.

Now, I have not kept my daughter in the dark her whole life. When she was five, she wanted to know how the baby in my tummy was going to get out. I told her the truth, of course. The baby was going to come out of mommy’s v*g*na. (I’m not embarrassed to write the word. My article is being screened by parental controls.) V*g*na and p*n*s are common words in our house. My philosophy is that you don’t make up names for other body parts so I wasn’t going to make up cutesy names for those particular parts either. I never wanted my daughter to feel that her body was something she should feel uncomfortable talking about.

When she was seven, she wanted to know what a tampon was and why it was used. So, I explained the menstrual cycle.

I never felt embarrassed or awkward talking to my daughter about these things because they were normal bodily functions.

Then one day, when she was about nine, I heard her say that kissing was s*x. Well, I didn’t want her to be embarrassed if some other child at school corrected her definition. So, I explained that too. Now I’ll admit that I did feel awkward explaining that process even though I kept it as scientific as possible. I felt like she was too young to know the details. But If I didn’t tell her, another child at school would. However, I did give her strict instructions to not repeat what I had told her to any other child at school. I do respect the rights of other parents and their choices as well.

After everything I’ve already explained to my daughter, you wouldn’t think that I would have any objections to the s*x education curriculum being offered at school. Well, you couldn’t be more wrong.

My objection is that it is MY responsibility to teach her about s*x education. As her mother, I know best what to explain to her and when the time is right for her. I have three children and they are all very different. The “what” and “when” will be different for each of my children. I can’t imagine my children hearing such important information from anyone else.

My daughter once asked, at the wise old age of 2, “Where do you work mommy?” To which I answered, “I work at home taking care of you and your brother.” She then put her hands on her hips and said, “No mommy, I mean your REAL job.” I could hardly contain my laughter when I replied, “That IS my real job.”

As a mother, it is my job to educate my children on s*x education. As we all know, that is how parenting got started in the first place.