Some schools, more than others are so seriously outdated it's a hazard to young brains. I am all about teaching our children about self respect and safety, but some boundaries get over stepped with poorly thought out "safety" programs. Like the one in New Zealand, K.O.S (Keeping Ourselves Safe)
Most of the program is great, they teach stranger danger & general safety. But some of the things discussed raised my Mother hackles.
like this question..
"How would you feel if a baby sitter put their hand down inside your under pants"
This is a very specific question, one that can confuse a young child & one that should not be discussed with adults they barely know. This is not a question I would ask my child, it is very creepy. Instead we can teach self respect & that their bodies are theirs & no one else's. The fact is, NOBODY can touch their body, NOBODY can do anything to them that makes them feel uncomfortable. This questions it'self is overstepping comfort boundaries.
The other not so serious one is discussing with the teacher the correct names for body parts. This is a great way for them to be able to explain correctly if anything goes on. But again, I do not find any comfort in a teacher speaking with my 5 year old about their private parts.
Being open with your child & teaching them self respect is a great way to encourage body positivity. Having uncomfortable conversations with a teacher at such a young age, and with an outdated school safety program (At least 10 years old) is not helping our kids.
Be a nosy parent. School is great but we are their first teachers. Kick up dust when things like this happen, it is not okay! I can only imagine how much worse it gets as they get older.
I understand that for some children, school is the only place they get to learn about body safety. But the questions being asked are too specific & confusing.
What are some good body safety & positivity techniques you have used, or think should be used in schools for this age?
Needless to say... we are taking the day off.
Thats really strange and sick that they teach that to children... Kids nowadays are too much exposed to sexual stuff. Sometimes as a parent we can't protect their eyes and ears anymore. Songs with the B or F words are considered normal. In the past it was about roses, being in love...😔
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It's a great conversation to have, just not like that.
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I'm all for homeschooling, with lots of socialization of course!
The phraseology does seem inappropriate here - labelling body parts...what is the right age for this? I think I was 9 or 10 when we got the very basics introduced in school in gender separated classrooms.
My parents had mostly given me an understanding by then.
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Oh hell no! My kid would be out of that school now. It's only going to get worse.
Post this is your local fb groups. 5 years old!!!! No no no
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Yes its hard to imagine how they will continue to teach this subject after this 'intense' start.
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I would not let my kid back there and I'm really not kidding. I'd be upset if this went out in middle school or even older too. Who are these people to make up this garbage? Does anyone have long term studies on how presenting this material in a classroom setting of mixed sexes is affecting the kids? I'd leave town if I had too and I'm not kidding. But I'm nomadic, so - homeschooling for most people.
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Yes I have already fled to the mountains of South America and you to the estuary jungles of south east Asia! ;p
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Very true. I tell people I am a refugee from California and I mean it. I just met a traveler from El Salvador this week and she told me she has been shocked to only find Americans who hate the place. Everyone from the us that she meets has something else bad to say.
Her biggest surprise was to hear that the food there is bad. She specifically wanted my confirmation on that issue - which of course is true. I told her everyone is sick and fat there and she said, "I know! everyone tells me that!"
She has told her people back home not to bother trying to go there and to come to se asia instead. Before she left home a few months ago it was her goal to go there and now she crossed it off the list.
This conversation was in a hostel and the one American girl there said she wishes she did not have to tell people she was from the us at all. So sad to think of the lost potential.
How are those mountains? I flipped a coin and Ecuador lost to Thailand :)
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Very interesting. I also try to impart some of this to locals who dream of the US as some 'other world'.
Surely there are good and bad about every place, and humans are in all of them! But there is something too 'developed' about the developed world. As you say - why is everybody sick?
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It's from the bad food, the toxic water, poor health care, stress, long work hours or no work hours, financial troubles, mounting police state, no family or friends for support. This all leads to high obesity rates, depression, anxiety, high suicides, early death, chronic illnesses, general misery.
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Yeah, it is just all very negative & confusing for a small person.
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Yeah - she does not need to be seeing any of this at her age. Especially not presented in such an open setting.
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It's terrible that there are 5 year olds who have been abused or are in danger of it. But to abuse and traumatise ALL 5 year olds in an attempt to save them is appalling. How many of them can tell the difference between reality and what they have imagined? Asking them to visualize a traumatic experience, then make it even more real by imaging how they would feel about it - that's setting them up right then and there to either attract it, be fearful of it, or imagine it when it didn't happen.
I don't think it would be over-reacting to put in a formal complaint to the school and the Ministry of Education - how else will it end? And Home schooling - go for it! Lots of resources here. And if you don't know anyone who home schools in NZ, I can probably find you some buddies.
This, plus a post by @methusalem that I commented on earlier, got me thinking about what the classes used to be called. First two years were primers. Why did we pronounce it "primmers", when they were clearly to prime us for the education process? Standard 1-4 were presumably to install the standards of behaviour a compliant population would adhere to. Maybe Forms 1-7 were to form us into model citizens.
Changing the names to Years 1-13 have hidden that agenda a little, maybe. But also made it so the education process can be started at 5, rather than just preparing for two years.
Anyway, I've said enough, getting off my soapbox now.
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I found it really strange. This program is probably at least 10 years old. The school doesn't have to teach it. Surely they would have thought it strange too? Obviously not. It needs to be redesigned for today's kids, something that is not mind fucking & confusing.
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This is super shocking. Sadly it's not surprising.
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Sadly not surprised at all.
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All I can say is...wtf?
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All the WTF's
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