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[quote=Anonymous]When I interviewed for my FT nanny position, the topic of puberty came up (we were talking rather generally about parenting philosophy and approaches). I was told that puberty and sex ed could not possibly matter, as the children are so young. I thought this seemed a bit head-in-the-sand, but of course didn't inquire further.

One of my charges is now a 9 year old girl. She has been developing breasts for nearly a year, has got some lady-like curves, and her responses to even mild situations are emotional cliff-dives (a sensation I remember acutely from my own time). This typically means that she has maybe a year, give or take, before she gets her period. I hate the thought that she could get hit with this thing before she ever knows what it is - then has to process her first period AND info about sex and menstruation all at the same time. (I was perfectly prepared, and I [/i]still[i] thought I was dying).

Still, her parents don't think it matters. They grew up in a culture that really doesn't talk about these things, and they are quite religious. They figure that since the children attend a private school, they won't be exposed to these issues. When the girls were joking one time about "a boy and a girl got naked and laid down together," they decided it was innocent joking because they couldn't find any porn on the Netflix history. My feeling is that kids this age aren't nearly so naive.

I know I'm not the parent, so I haven't done anything besides a gentle suggestion or two, such as when she was going in for her 9 year physical. They asked if I knew of any issues to bring up, and I suggested that she's no longer too young to learn about what to expect in the next few years. They didn't have that talk, though. [i]Of course, I wouldn't dream of discussing this with the girl myself. That's not what I'm saying[i]. But how can I handle such a sensitive subject with sensitive parents who don't want to think about this at all? FWIW, I have a hard time capturing undivided, no-child attention to discuss important things, so it's not so simple as a straightforward talk. First I have to wrestle for the attention. What do you think?[/quote]

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