What age should children be taught Sex Education?

[HBK-aholic]

I could have sworn I'd made this thread before, but anyway. There's a debate going on at the moment about 5 year olds being taught 'sex education'. Now, I'm sure this doesn't entail everything sex related, but maybe the basics of how the body works and reacts to certain things, with emphasis on sex organs etc.

I think 5 is WAY too young, and it shouldn't even be brought up at that age. I don't think there's any child who is thinking about sex at that age, I don't even think they know what it is. I understand trying to stop teenage pregnancy but 5 is too young.

I had my first sex ed class when I was 10, in my last year of Primary School. It was more focused on periods and puberty than contraception etc. which was just a very small part of it. I think 10 is a good age to start. It's around the time girls could start having periods, therefore there's a chance of them getting pregnant, and you're about to move up into High School where sex is a lot more prevalent.

I had more sex education between 11 and 13, focused more on how to use condoms (Some amazingly fun lessons there) and risks of pregnancy and diseases. I think these are good ages, most teenage pregnancies are 14+, with only a tiny minority being under the age of 14. If you take it younger than 10-11 you're taking it too far in my opinion.

 

[FromTheSouth]

I think a child should be somewhere between six and eight when they are taught how the body works. I remember being herded into a room, one for boys and one for girls, in elementary school and having a doctir tell us why our bodies were doing what they were doing. It focused on the genitals and hair growth all over the body, just kind of a pre-puberty warning.

In middle school, we were taught a little about the female body, and why it does some of the things it does. I think we were 12 or thirteen. I feel that this was all appropriate.

Once we got ot high school, we got to deal with the consequences of pregnancy, including the "slideshow." Now, for those of you who never got the slideshow, let me explain this to you. It featured pictures of symptoms of STD's. Chlamydia had conquered a vagina and a herpe exploded covering a penis in puss and blood. These were disgusting pictures that were supposed to scare you right into a condom or celibacy.

I think that stages of education are the best in this sense. They don't teach you calculus before you can add, so it fits right in with how school works.

I also think that schools shouldn't have to teach any of this. The only reason they do is because parents suck. Look at crime rates and credit scores. Parents don't teach their kids shit because, for the most part, young parents don't know what the fuck they're doing. They just hope the school teaches the kids everything. That way, the parents can be the child's friend, and the school can be the bad guy. Fucking rubbish.

 

[CKO]

i believe sex ed should be started at a young age..at 5 it doenst mean getting into the nitty gritty about sex and stuff, but maybe what makes a boy a boy and a girl a girl..so that way you dont have little kids taking off their clothes in the school yard to find out themselves. then you got people jumping the gun and crying sexual harassment! seriously...it happens...

as the children progress in age the class starts getting more and more mature. i think this would be the best way to go..lets face it...babies are having babies now a days.

when i was 13 i wasnt even thinking about sex...now there's 13 year olds getting pregnant everyday..and that's sad.

 

[Azrael Cain]

Ideally, (and from a familiar standpoint) I would say as soon as they themselves ask you. Once they're curious, they'll listen to what you have to tell them -- just make sure the relationship with your child is one that can make such a conversation comfortable, not weird.

But I think that depends on how one defines "Sex Education." I define it as the education about one's body and the activities it engages in. I believe that children need to be taught from an early age what their body is, how it functions, and what can be expected to occur as they live in and with their bodies. From an educational standpoint then (and not the familiar), maybe break it down like this:

Teach the children about the body and how it works, what it does, etc around 6 - 8. Maybe just the basic anatomy stuff, how we're different, why we're different -- easy stuff.

Once that sinks in, start working with the questions the kids may have having learned anatomy and the differences. 8 - 11 can deal with what's going to happen as a result of the differences, etc. Again, just start preparing the child for what will occur as the reuslt of hormones and the puberty onset -- a "what's to be expected," sort of. Also, I believe that 11 is the average age for going through puberty these days, or at least to start experiencing curiosity and wonder.

Once the anatomical differences and explanations have been put in place, and the picture of the human body has been a little more filled in, as the children are going through puberty (ages 12 - 14) we can talk them through what is happening, since this time they can see and feel the changes occur (voice change, hair growth, acne, etc).

Once the children see the changes, and have the information to deal with them, we can start discussing the sex itself. Not necessarily "Insert Part A into Hole B," but gradually get them to talk about it, ask the questions, as opposed to just telling them about it and secretly hoping that they are using condoms and really now about the information. From 14 - 16 we can tell them about the consequences, about what sex is (a physical representation of the feelings you've been having for the past few years that come with the onset of hormones) and when it should be had -- all the while not imposing views but suggesting and providing at open and positive atmosphere for such a sensitive subject, especially for teens who are bashful about it in the first place.

It doesn't have to be broken down by these ages. I think a few of the later stages can start earlier and the teaching overlap, so it's all not lost or forgotten by the children and is always kept in the forefront, so to speak, because of the importance of the topic.

The idea of scaffolding should be used, and should be started early. Problem is that sex is a taboo topic in this society (America), and I would imagine is a taboo topic in many other countries as well. It's the overcoming of the fear that our kids will actually fuck that is the most important. How, pray tell, do you think we all got here? Our grandparents fucked and produced our parents, who fucked and produced us, and we will fuck and produce more kids, etc et al. But we refuse to admit that our children are capable of understanding such grandiose concepts. And I am not saying lay it all on them at once -- God no. Start small and slow, and build -- scaffold. Inform, inform, inform; not prevent, prevent, prevent.

Also, this raises the idea of whose responsibility is it to teach the children about sex -- the parents or the schools? I assumed it was the schools, but there are many parents who don't want their kids to learn about it (again with the fear) in schools, nor do they want to tell about it to the children themselves, so the kid ends up not knowing... which is far worse, I think. I think many would say 'Sex is a private matter and is to be left to the parents,' but like I said, most parents are so afraid of the topic and the possibility of their kids engaging in it, they avoid it. That's why the kids learn from their friends... which is again, far worse.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I don't know. What I do know is that when I was given some sexual education, I wasn't taught anything I didn't already know.

Maybe they should give certain children classes before other. Most of the teenage girls who get pregnant are common or the ''hot girls''. Maybe they should be taught before the others. Or not, I don't care.

I'm certain my daughter isn't the type to get pregnant or have sex before she's ready. I could be wrong. But I'm supremely confident that I'm not.

 

[Dave]

Yeah 5 is definately too young in my opinion. I mean you still think girls are"icky" when you are 5 years old. I was tought sex ed at 11, the year before I went to high school and then it continued in the first year of high school. I think that's a good level. Before age 11, I didn't feel the urge for sex so it doesn't make sense to teach kids this early. I dunno how many British people are in on this discussion but recently there was a kid who just had a kid and it made front page news every day for like a month. The dude was only like 12 years old and now he has a child.

My point being that we don't need kids raising kids. We need children to be educated on the basics of sex when the time is right. Don't pollute the children's minds with sex and make them think it's cool when they are young. That is a bad road to go down.

I read a study somewhere about why kids under the age of consent, that is 16 in Britain, choose to have sex. The number 1 reason was that their friends were already having sex and they didn't want to be made a fool of, so they did it too. The survey was carried out on 13 year olds 35% of whom had already had sex or were in a sexually active relationship. This too, is bad.

Back to the original point though and I thnk 12/13 is about the time when you should be learning these things. You are beginning to mature and you feel the urge to have sex. Teaching to 5 year olds is stupid, I don't believe they fully understand what you are showing them for a start.

 

[Pimpin]

With me knowing a few people who have had their first child at 13. I'm gonna say that you should teach them about sex when their 10 or 11 & of course the parents should be the ones to teach the kids cause not only did they give birth to you but would you rather learn about it from somebody you've known your entire life or somebody that is a complete stranger to you?

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

All children have to learn about sex education at some point, but I agree that age 5 is very young. I actually think of it this way... if a child is learning about sex education at such a young age, like 5, I feel they are more likely to fool around. At five years old, your minds aren't fully developed and when you start to learn things that are too extreme for your age... you won't hold it in well and you'll start using your premature knowledge the wrong way.

Now, I started learning about sex education in 5th grade, when I was 10 years old. I only knew the basics of sex, but at age 10, my mind was able to hold that knowledge in a different way than a five year old would. Even today, five years later... I'm still not sure if I have even mediocre knowledge of sex, but no one knows everything.

 

[Evan Snow-Wolf]

I'd say around 12 or when they ask, whichever comes first. Honestly, I am less concerned about WHEN we reach kids Sex Education as to WHAT we consider to be Sex Education. I was reading a story not long ago about how some teacher took her class to her same sex marriage ceremony as a "teachable moment" for a pack of kids under the age of 10, and I think something of that nature belongs in the parents' decisions, not the school's, and certaintly not an independent teacher.

 

[Deexter Jorgan]

I think a child should be somewhere between six and eight when they are taught how the body works. I remember being herded into a room, one for boys and one for girls, in elementary school and having a doctir tell us why our bodies were doing what they were doing. It focused on the genitals and hair growth all over the body, just kind of a pre-puberty warning.

In middle school, we were taught a little about the female body, and why it does some of the things it does. I think we were 12 or thirteen. I feel that this was all appropriate.

Once we got ot high school, we got to deal with the consequences of pregnancy, including the "slideshow." Now, for those of you who never got the slideshow, let me explain this to you. It featured pictures of symptoms of STD's. Chlamydia had conquered a vagina and a herpe exploded covering a penis in puss and blood. These were disgusting pictures that were supposed to scare you right into a condom or celibacy.

I think that stages of education are the best in this sense. They don't teach you calculus before you can add, so it fits right in with how school works.

I also think that schools shouldn't have to teach any of this. The only reason they do is because parents suck. Look at crime rates and credit scores. Parents don't teach their kids shit because, for the most part, young parents don't know what the fuck they're doing. They just hope the school teaches the kids everything. That way, the parents can be the child's friend, and the school can be the bad guy. Fucking rubbish.

Totally agree, in small doses it can help more for children to develop an understanding, as long as you don't go too much into detail it should be fine, and the benefit is that they will learn gradually and not freak out or get too curious.

I had the same thing when i was in school, learning about the body at primary, then about women and mens physiology in secondary, and then having a sex education class when i was 15, so its fine.

The Problem with todays society sex is becoming a more familiar thing to the younger generation so the Government are attempting to counter this by making children more aware and hopefully will stop teen pregnancy at its tracks