Ffx county Family Life Education Opt out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No real religious reasons but I find that we are more conservative than most. In looking at the description, I guess the only thing that gave me pause was the section about STDs. I think that can wait a year or two. Just wanted to get a feel for others' experiences.

Don't you want your child to know that if s/he engages in sex before marriage that they can get a disease? Including life-threatening AIDS?

[Anonymous]

We were out of town and missed it. Wow. I objected to a lot of what it said. The push, push, push towards being gay was obnoxious. The assumption that at 10, they were having sex. So much I am glad my kids missed. Did not want to make a big production of opting out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were out of town and missed it. Wow. I objected to a lot of what it said. The push, push, push towards being gay was obnoxious. The assumption that at 10, they were having sex. So much I am glad my kids missed. Did not want to make a big production of opting out.

What are you basing these characterizations on? Did you actually read the materials? Attend the class? How do you know this if you were out of town and missed it?

[Anonymous]

8:55 again, here's a link from the VA Dept of Ed, scanning through the materials, I am not able to find the "push" towards homosexuality that pp is referring to.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/family_life_education/index.shtml

[Anonymous]

Thank you 2:16. Yes, my DD is a young 10 and she's freaked out enough about the eventuality of having her period. I think it's too much information at once for her first real introduction to puberty. I also glanced ahead and they cover STDs and abstinence in all the grades. We'll just wait until for a couple of years to introduce that topic. I'll know when she's ready.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were out of town and missed it. Wow. I objected to a lot of what it said. The push, push, push towards being gay was obnoxious. The assumption that at 10, they were having sex. So much I am glad my kids missed. Did not want to make a big production of opting out.

The comment about a push toward being gay is false. There is barely talk about being heterosexual. Knowledge is power people. Empower these young kids as early as possible. When girls (and boys) aren't spoken to about guarding their bodies very early on they get the sense that it's an uncomfortable topic. When a girl is uncomfortable speaking up about sex she is more likely to give in to a boy's sexual advance because she hasn't been taught how to confidently say no. Not to mention the potential consequences of saying yes.

We have a daughter in middle school and we are a very conservative family, no Facebook, no smart phone, or unsupervised internet use. But we understand that we can't always be with our daughter. With that in mind it is important to me that she understand her body is a precious gift, she only gets one and that she must treat it with respect or no one else will. I carefully explain that many other people aren't respectful of their bodies, either because they simply don't choose to be or they don't understand their worth. That's how we started the STD discussion and the importance of abstinence. Hard truth but the truth none-the-less.

[Anonymous]

This is just one opinion, but I find that if I just answer questions in a non-plussed way, my kids don't think anything of it.

For instance there was an interview with Hugh Jackman on 60 minutes and at one point he mentioned that he kissed a guy for a broadway show he was doing. If my kids look at me with a question, I just say "some boys like boys and some boys like girls." Same thing about a something that came up with boy scouts and the news. I just said something like "he was a bad guy and they got rid of him." "what did he do?" they asked. "He was touching boys in their privates." And they move on. My kids are 6 and 8 (both genders). I can see myself in the future saying (matter of factly -- and not in a big, heavy, "sex talk" context)... "sometimes if your privates get close to another person's privates you can get a virus that can cause a lot of problems."

My point is that young kids can take in bits and pieces of info. that is age appropriate. If they are old enough to know where babies come from, IMO, they are old enough to know that just like spreading colds from hand to hand, people can get viruses from other parts touching too. It doesn't have to be "Let's have the official sex talk" where we point to diagrams. If you're not weird in giving info., it won't turn into the BIG SECRET.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No real religious reasons but I find that we are more conservative than most. In looking at the description, I guess the only thing that gave me pause was the section about STDs. I think that can wait a year or two. Just wanted to get a feel for others' experiences.

Don't you want your child to know that if s/he engages in sex before marriage that they can get a disease? Including life-threatening AIDS?

Not the above poster...but yes I want my child to know about this but just not at age 10! This is too much too soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were out of town and missed it. Wow. I objected to a lot of what it said. The push, push, push towards being gay was obnoxious. The assumption that at 10, they were having sex. So much I am glad my kids missed. Did not want to make a big production of opting out.

I have no idea what you are referring to, and I teach FLE to 5th graders. The information provided is very basic and not at all controversial: proper names of body parts and cells, basic info on how sperm and egg join to create a baby, and the names of some diseases you can get from having sex. Lots of emphasis on waiting until you are mature before you even think about it. We DO NOT, and are not allowed, to discuss intercourse -- they always leave a little puzzled as to how the sperm and egg ever gete together! -- homosexuality, condoms or birth control, or anything other than scientific fact.
We also do not make any assumptions about what knowledge or experience kids have.

Many questions I am only allowed to answer by saying, "Ask your family." So your comments are flat wrong!

[Anonymous]

11:14: So 10 is too soon, in your opinion. However, there are promiscuous middle schoolers. I want my DD to learn about these issues before she is pressured into anything. And I do not know when that will happen. I do know when I was in Middle School, I was pressured to do something I did not want to do. It happens. Boys of that age are one big hormone. Girls start the hormone rush earlier.

I think, if done correctly, it is age appropriate.

[Anonymous]

I can remember when I was in 4th grade in like 1980, some of the kids were starting to have sexual contact. I was in Catholic school. Talk about promoting abstinence.

We did have basic biology - girls attended a session on the female reproductive sytems, boys attended one on the male.

I didn't "lose it" til age 19 - but my younger sister lost it at age THIRTEEN! (I was horrified and shocked when she told me).

My take away: Kids, even kids from "good" families, sometimes go down this path, WAY too early. Better prepare them in advance. I think you have to repeat things several times before kids internalize them. Better start early and often.

[Anonymous]

11:29 I think it's humerous that they leave a little puzzled! But it also makes me wonder how is the subject of abstinence introduced if intercourse isn't brought up first?

[Anonymous]

humorous...that is

[Anonymous]

The downside of the opt out factor is that the friends who did not opt out will just discuss what went on in the class to your DD and perhaps distort facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were out of town and missed it. Wow. I objected to a lot of what it said. The push, push, push towards being gay was obnoxious. The assumption that at 10, they were having sex. So much I am glad my kids missed. Did not want to make a big production of opting out.

I have no idea what you are referring to, and I teach FLE to 5th graders. The information provided is very basic and not at all controversial: proper names of body parts and cells, basic info on how sperm and egg join to create a baby, and the names of some diseases you can get from having sex. Lots of emphasis on waiting until you are mature before you even think about it. We DO NOT, and are not allowed, to discuss intercourse -- they always leave a little puzzled as to how the sperm and egg ever gete together! -- homosexuality, condoms or birth control, or anything other than scientific fact.
We also do not make any assumptions about what knowledge or experience kids have.

Many questions I am only allowed to answer by saying, "Ask your family." So your comments are flat wrong!

Thank you for correcting this point. DH is a 6th grade teacher and teaches FLE to the boys every year. This poster is exactly right. DD had FLE last year in 5th grade and she definitely was puzzled about the whole sperm/egg contact thing - haha! I don't understand why they don't just cover that too, but whatever. DD and I had a few good conversations the week she had FLE. In the end she was relieve to know that her parents had only had to have sex twice (we have two kids) - hahaha! I had to correct her on that, so she was totally disgusted and confused as to why anyone would possibly want to have sex for any other reason other than to produce a child