Let's Talk About Sex, Baby

Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby

Allow me to make two things perfectly clear:

I am in favor of sex.

I am in favor of education.

Allow me to make two more things perfectly clear:

I am in favor of sex between mature, married (to each other) adults only.

I am in favor of education.

So where does that leave the issue of sex education? Should our schools teach abstinence? Should they provide condoms and birth control information? Is the classroom the proper setting for these types of discussions? When? Where? How?

That’s a lot of questions!

But one thing I do not question is the sheer BentSense of presidential candidate Barack Obama’s ill-informed, ridiculous statement as reported by ABC News:

“Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told Planned Parenthood Tuesday that sex education for kindergarteners, as long as it is ‘age-appropriate,’ is ‘the right thing to do.’ “

Excuse me, but would somebody tell me what exactly is “age-appropriate sex education” in regards to teaching 5-year old children? Obama goes on to imply that questions concerning the stork vs procreation are appropriate in kindergarten. And I do suppose it is a subject that should be dealt with at a relatively early age. In fact, now that I think about it, I am in favor of sex education. I think teachers should be empowered to answer any question their students might bring to them about sex. I’ll even go so far as to provide, right here and now, the needed training for just such occasions. The teacher should look the student or students squarely in the face, and with a clear yet tender voice say:

“That’s something I bet your Mom of Dad would like to talk with you about.”

And now, here’s the tricky part because it will require some discreet thinking on the part of the educator, something that the government vehemently discourages. The teacher must then follow up that statement by either saying a) “So when you go home tonight, ask them that question the same way you just asked me;” or b) “So how about we give your parents a call (or have a chat when they pick you up) today.”

I know, you’re thinking “What if the child asks their question in front of the whole class?” Again, the proper first response should be to clearly indicate that the parents need to be involved in the discussion, and then perhaps the teacher could follow up the situation with a note home to the parents that the question came up and that their child has some curiosities that need to be addressed in the manner in which the parents feel best fits how they want to raise their children.

Sorry, Senator Obama - my kids are mine to educate on delicate matters of sex, not yours.