Don't forget about Sex Ed!

While we’re all #stayinghome, remember the sex ed lessons

Here we are, staying at home. We’ve set up our kids’ learning stations, created their daily schedules, and showed them how to follow their district’s distance learning plan. We’ve been available to remind them to punctuate their sentences, help them do long division, and help them troubleshoot when their Google classroom is not working. Many of us are more hands-on in our kids’ education than we have ever been before.

As you have looked at the distance learning plan for your child, is there a sex ed lesson incorporated? Maybe, but probably not. For many schools, winter or spring of 5th grade is when their health class covers sexual health and development. Some of your kids may have been given a lesson plan about that this year, but many did not. So this got me thinking…

I know we’re busy ­– we are working from home and schooling from home, taking care of people around us, trying to fit in some exercise and virtual happy hours… but let’s see if we can also make room in our kids’ schedules for sex education while we are staying home. I want to help you do that by breaking this down by grade and developmental readiness.

If you’ve heard me speak, or read my previous newsletters, you know I love to reference Dr. Anne Bernstein‘s stages. I think it’s a brilliant way of categorizing our children’s developmental readiness to learn about sexual and human development. These categories are such great ways of characterizing what kids are ready to learn, and when. They’re helpful when we need to figure out how to respond to their questions, how far to go with our answers, and in helping us identify when we need to initiate certain conversations.
 
I will be rolling out a series of posts in the coming days, breaking down each of those categories for you, and giving you some specific ideas for how you can incorporate sex education into your at-home learning. They won’t be comprehensive, but my goals will be to help you understand these categories so you feel more comfortable and confident talking with your kids, and to give you some things you can start doing while we are all staying home.
 
Here’s my one big caveat: I will use your child’s age or grade level when discussing these categories. The categories don’t have to be defined by your child’s age; rather, we use age/grade as an indicator of where your child most likely is at in their readiness for this content. Please know that your child might have already moved into the next category or might still be in a previous category. And that’s okay! You know your child best! But promise me this, don’t underestimate their readiness. Just because you don’t think they’re ready to hear certain information, does not mean that their brains are not ready for it.
 
So ­– get ready! Let’s learn about these categories and see if we can incorporate some sex education into our children’s at home learning. The first installment is coming your way soon!
 
*Note: If you have concerns about what and how schools do teach sex ed, read my previous newsletter about how to address those concerns here.