Blog #2
Although sexual education in school enforces abstinence, that's not the only thing my child is going to learn about. Because the use of social media is so heavy in pre-teens, it's hard to censor what my child can see and not see. Even if I did try to censor what they see, their friends can always tell them their version of things. The first thing I would recommend parents to do is to find all information regarding sexual education and come up with information that's easy for kids to understand and refer to. The first website I recommend is the CDC. The CDC provides information about sexual health, reproductive health, healthy pregnancy, etc that I think will be great to pull a few facts from there to teach. Another website that I found to have good information is Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood provides information regarding everything about sexual health and resources to receive help if your teen has any issues.
I think in today's society, it's important to be open and transparent with your teens about things. Sometimes parents may get questions like "What are STDs?". The parent's response can be as simple as, "STDs are sexually transmitted infections that can be spread through sexual activity with an infected partner. There are many types of STDs that are from via bacteria, and need medication to treat.". Responses can be as simple as that, and also inform the pre-teen about the different type of STI's that can be contracted. When I was younger, my parents showed me a couple of videos about puberty and sexual health, and explained how they tie into each other. If a parent can not explain to their pre-teen about sexual health I recommend finding educational videos from youtube. Here are some that I think are informative:
Resource
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). HECAT: Module SH sexual health curriculum. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/hecat/pdf/hecat_module_sh.pdf
Hey Girl! I really enjoyed your commentary on this topic. I'm really glad to see that you are also pursuing teaching your child more than abstinence only sexual education. Growing up in Oklahoma myself, this was common for us in school. Unfortunately my highschool class had a lot of teen pregnancies, and being a mom at fifteen is something I never want to see a child go through.
ReplyDeleteI also think if we teach children younger than seventh grade about sexual health, maybe we can help children at home who are maybe being sexually abused and don’t understand what is happening to them? Just a thought! Overall, great post!
Hello there- I thought that was super cool that you chose the option to talk about sex ed with a preteen. I myself have two daughters ages 12 and 13. It is not easy to raise them up in todays society. One thing I do try to have is educated and honest conversations. I haven't talked to them specifically about sex yet but we will be having that talk. soon. This was practice. It is enjoyable to read the many perspectives. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteKennedi,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is important to talk to your children about sex so that you can ensure thaty know what is true and what is a myth. I am grateful that I had parents that talked to me starting at a young age so that when I was old enough to understand things or start having conversations with my friend I was able to know what was true and what was not. If I was ever unsure about something that I had heard from my friends I would go home and ask my parents so that I could have the right information. I also think it is important for parents to have these conversations because I know personally there were a lot if things that my school's sex education course did not teach us such as contraceptives.
Great post! Sex ed is very important and they need to put it back in the schools. Every child need to be educated on what, how, when, and prevention
ReplyDelete