i dunno what to believe

[AquaticRex]

the main reason i don't get it is cause i just have a belief that if it's not in your body already then it shouldn't be forced there. if your body catches it then that is the time for your body to fight it off, but other then that it is unnecessary stress on your body. but that is a personal belief and is prolly going to start up another debate lol

 

[missyscove]

I understand that, just reminding folks that not all vaccines involve scary, pointy needles these days (yay advances in science)

 

[AquaticRex]

lol yea if there is a mid to high level chance of catching something i'll take the needle, but i can't know in advance that i'm going to get it. i have to be in the room and they just sort of come in and it's lie "ok you need this needle, so we'll give you it now". if i know prior about a day before or something i end up working my self up about it lol. seasonal things i don't think are necessary. just take the right precautions and everything will be fine. i kinda wanna home school my kids cause of flu's and such...

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Jessa, homeschooling your kids because of fear of illness isn't a great idea- especially if that's your only reason. Homeschooling is a huge undertaking if you're going to do it so it actually benefits your child. Also kids need to be exposed to germs- if they aren't, their immune systems aren't really mature and they'll get sick a lot more. They're also more likely to develop allergies.

 

[Brandy456]

I agree with Siloh, Jessa.. how old are you?

 

[AquaticRex]

well its not my only reason. there are also a lot of other reasons. i don't have kids yet, heck no. i'm only 20 lol.
another reason is cause i saw my little sister get home schooled by her foster parents (siblings were allowed visiting rights to each other) and she is a lot smarter then the rest of us. she is 5 years under me but knew things before i did about almost everything. i like the idea of the one on one teaching and learning, while in a school system they expect you to have the same mind as everyone else and if you don't they stick you in what every other student calls "the retard class". as well, i'll be able to keep a strong bond with my kids. on top of all of that, i think there are some things that it should be up to the parents to teach and that the school should have no part of it (such as sex ed). when i went through the teaching, i would have preferred for my parents to teach that kind of info to me instead of the teacher. there is just so much that i don't like in the school system and i would much rather put myself through the training to be able to teach my kids then put them in the hands of some person i don't know.
i dunno about you guys, but only about 3 years ago i was in high school and the teachers had this "better then thow" thing. one teacher i ended up getting suspended for grabbing my arm and bruising me pretty dark. i smacked her hand away and she tried to stand against that and i just think that they have too much of a "i'm better then you" thing going on in the system. god forbid if a student got their hands on a teacher handbook. about half of my old teachers would be fired lol

 

[SnowyShiloh]

I have to get going here, but want to try to assuage your fears some about the public school thing. I'm currently pursuing a degree in elementary education (have to leave for class in a couple minutes!) and you would not BELIEVE how HUGE of a deal it is now for the teacher to be able to teach each child according to how that child learns best. Kids are not expected to all have the same mind. Teachers are expected to be able to individualize what they're teaching for every single student. They keep pounding into our heads that whatever grade we teach, we have to be prepared to teach 2 grades above and 2 grades below that level because the students will all be at different levels. Not just differences in ability, but differences in learning and listening styles. And there's quite the process to get a child into special education. Before they try putting kids in special ed, they work with the child in the general ed classroom.

Once you have kids, if you live hear a half decent public school, I would not hesitate to send your child there. You may have only been in high school a couple years ago, but assuming you wait a few years to have children, your kids won't be in high school for about 20 years. A LOT changes in the world of education in 20 years. And I can almost guarantee elementary schools are quite different now than when you went.

Okay, off I go!

 

[AquaticRex]

yea i'd prolly be trying the whole school thing cause i like the interaction with other kids, but if anything bad ever happened i'd be pulling my kids out in an instant.
by bad i mean like fights that they got pined for that they prolly didn't do (no i won't assume, i'd look into it first lol) as well as if the principal is being unfair and also if they're learning isn't going so great (they fall too far behind or they should be in a higher level).

 

[SnowyShiloh]

You also have to consider that you kind of have to stay at home with your children if you're going to homeschool them...

 

[AquaticRex]

yup. i plan to open my own business, so it's all good
i plan to open an animal rescue center with a grooming parlor and pet-sitter attached. so i'll be able to stay with my kids no problem if i need to

 

[missyscove]

I'm an Animal Science major, but this year I'm also taking "The Art of Teaching" and I'm already learning a lot of interesting things.
Personally, the public schools near my home weren't that great so I've been in private school all my life (well, Cornell is actually partially funded by the state of NY so I guess I'm not necessarily in private school anymore.
I have a cousin that wants to homeschool her children she herself has a fairly limited education and her husband once said, "she's not that great at math and science, but she's great at art so the kids will get that" and looking back on my own education I'm afraid of what her kids will miss out on. Interacting with other kids is just such a huge part of your education and being in a school with choices for subjects that allows for both a breadth and depth of knowledge just seems so integral. Being completely responsible for my child's education would really scare me.
As far as sex-ed goes, I have friends whose parents never had a "sex talk" with them or even gave them a book on the topic. Without sex-ed in schools there are a lot of kids who simply wouldn't know what sex is, or would have to learn from their friends.

 

[AquaticRex]

i agree with everything you say, just a couple of concerns with the sex ed thing. i find that they're teaching wayyyyy too early. i remember someone telling me they learned it in grade 7, i remember it in grade 3. there aren't many people at that age who are going to say.... a certain man part (dunno if i can say it on here), and not have the class bursting into laughter. i'd have no problem with high school talking about it, but 3rd grade is really young. plus, with that grade comes cliques. the things you say and do and how outspoken and vocal you are can affect who wants to be your friends and who will split off in other groups. adding the pressure of something like this would only make things more confusing. i remember someone asking a certain question and a bunch of kids were just repulsed by him for the rest of the year. i wouldn't mind it so much if they would at least wait for the "clique epidemic dust" to settle. like, the kids are just starting to figure out who they are, and just piling that sort of info on them could confuse them at that time. i dunno, it's prolly just me, but i just think the school board is doing it wrong. they're thinking "this and that needs to be covered" but they're not thinking about what it's doing to the kids minds at that age. my nephew is in the 5th grade and claimed to be gay a month ago after a sex ed presentation. i don't have anything wrong with gays, bi's or anything else, my best friend is gay lol, but i just think to be thinking that at that age is a little strange and i kinda blame the education. it's the confusion. not understanding it to full concept and not being able to handle all of the info just yet.

 

[missyscove]

My mother works in the health/attendance office in a Catholic elementary school where she's seen young girls come in convinced they're dying because they're bleeding. Turns out their parents hadn't talked about menstruation with them and it hadn't yet been covered in the school curriculum. IMO our bodies are nothing to be embarrassed of and the more we know about them the better off we are.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Jessa- not trying to make it seem like I'm at odds with you all the time. I do kind of agree that really detailed sex ed in 3rd grade might be excessive, though I think kids DO need to know stuff- I'm the child of a nurse so we always used the correct words for human anatomy and I had a very accurate idea of sexual function at a young age. Didn't hurt me any! Also I don't think cliques forming in 3rd grade is necessarily normal. I don't remember anything like that until 6th grade (middle school). You have to remember that each school has it's own culture, so does each class of kids. Just because you experienced something doesn't mean all other kids do too.

One last thing. I remember we started sex ed in school in 5th grade. I had a pretty solid grasp on sexuality at that point and I don't think I was especially mature. Sex ed in the school was a good thing at that point, provided good teachers are teaching it. When I was 2-6 years old, we lived in a different state and I was best friends with a little boy named Joey. I remember adults liked to tease me that Joey was my boyfriend, and I would always get really annoyed with them because Joey was NOT like that. We moved away and I didn't see Joey after I was 6 years old, but when I was about 9 or 10 I remember telling my mom that Joey was gay. It took me until that age to recognize that about him. Now Joey was a normal little boy- I never saw any sexual abuse happening or him being overly friendly with other boys, and he didn't act effeminate, but I knew even from a very young age that there was something different about him. You could say that was just me speculating, but we moved back to that state when I was 16 and I met Joey again in high school. And I was right, he was gay! So I think a kid CAN know they're gay from a really young age. I mean, if another kid figured it out about their friend, why shouldn't the actual child know?

As for your nephew, I hope you guys support him and don't tell him "Oh, no you aren't gay, you're too young to know that!" because I can see that really messing with his head. He knows himself. I'm not saying he is for sure gay, but whatever he says about himself should be respected. If he's not gay, a sex ed class in 5th grade will not make him gay and he'll get it figured it out soon enough.

 

[aurora369]

Considering I started menstruating when I was 10, between 4th and 5th grade, waiting until grade 6-7 or high school would have been way too late for me. I was lucky that my mother was very open about how the body works from a young age, otherwise I would have been mortified. I remember there was one girl in my class at the time that thought once you got your period you continued to bleed continuously with out stopping.

Girls are entering puberty earlier and earlier. It is not uncommon for girls as young as 7-8 to start menstruating!

I personally feel it is very important to educate children about their bodies at a young age. I also feel it can help prevent sexual abuse if children are also taught at the same time what that is and what to do if that happens to them. Instead of feeling shamed and afraid to tell anyone.

-Dawn

 

[irishbunny]

I have a feeling 2012 will be the same as allll the other days the world was supposed to end over the years.

 

[jcottonl02]

Of course swine flu is real. But the hype made about it....my goodness lol. I felt like I was in some kind of...28 days later sort of thing or I am Legend. Everyone is going to die and soon. It was just ridiclous.

Swine flu is a killer, just like flu is, but generally only to those in the 'at risk' category- very old or very young people etc. or those with compromised immune systems. For those who get it, generally if you keep yourself healthy and you make sure you get rest etc etc. while you have it, you should get better absolutely fine, like with normal flu.

Most people who say 'I have flu' just have a bad cold. If you have flu, you are in bed for days, which I guess is why everyone was so scared about swine flu because people were....in bed for days....whereas lots of people (I know) nowadays say 'I have a migraine' or 'I have really bad flu' and yet are still going out shopping etc. and just moaning about it.

The medication you can get for swine flu doesn't actually even help the flu itself- it just reduces the number of days in which you yourself are infectious to others.

Hopefully swine flu can be eradicated by careful monitoring and isolation of those who have it, but I really wouldn't worry to much about it.

That's just my opinion.

Jen

 

[NorthernAutumn]

SnowyShiloh wrote:

Jessa- not trying to make it seem like I'm at odds with you all the time. I do kind of agree that really detailed sex ed in 3rd grade might be excessive, though I think kids DO need to know stuff- I'm the child of a nurse so we always used the correct words for human anatomy and I had a very accurate idea of sexual function at a young age. Didn't hurt me any!

As for your nephew, I hope you guys support him and don't tell him "Oh, no you aren't gay, you're too young to know that!" because I can see that really messing with his head. He knows himself. I'm not saying he is for sure gay, but whatever he says about himself should be respected. If he's not gay, a sex ed class in 5th grade will not make him gay and he'll get it figured it out soon enough.

My family was always very precise with their terminology. Call it what it is - euphemisms only make things more confusing for the kids.
I agree, no need for gory details, but using that poor stork as a metaphor is often taken as the literal truth. I remember kids having questions by grade 3, and trading all sorts of misinformed playground lore - might as well teach them properly...

I agree -- your nephew will know intrinsically what his gender identity is. At his age, it is unlikely that he is defining himself in terms of a preferred form of sexual intercourse - "gay" is the word that society uses to describe people that he identifies with, so it's really the only term likely available to him. I think that he is probably looking at the standard rigid gender roles of men and women, and is feeling like neither really fit him.

As Shiloh said, it is best to respect his feelings on his own identity.
A sex ed class will likely answer many of his questions, if taught by someone competently trained in gender identity and sexual orientation. Hopefully they will look at personal identification, rather than just the nuts and bolts. If anything, it won't turn him gay .

 

[AquaticRex]

as i said about my nephew, i have no problem with his orientational decision if that is how he truly turns out, and neither does his mother. the father (who i really do NOT like and would love to throw him down the stairs, i'll explain later) is the problem (yet again), since he started putting Mikey down and poking fun at him for it. his father never really is around. mostly drunk and always putting other things before his son. currently him and my sis aren't together, which usually i would say is't 100% good, but i really like that they aren't. the father doesn't visit Mikey and refuses to pay child support. Krysta (sister) has tried to have him served numerous times, but he's a couch bouncer and always seems to just know when they're coming for him. i rarely get this angry about it, but this guy just really ticks me off, especially when i found out why him and my sis aren't together anymore. apparently he was a really "hands on" kinda guy, and not in a good way at all. my guess is that mine and my sister's bio dad didn't meet the guy since the guy is still alive >.< (just a quick minor detail, all of me and my siblings are all adopted with a few exceptions). so yea lol thats my reasoning for wanting to beat the guy up lol. i'm rather protective even over my older siblings lol but yea...

back to the schooling stuff.. i guess i was rather late then coming into all of that stuff lol, never got my "pained time" till 8th grade.. and i just guess my school was weird lol. cause cliques did start forming in 3rd grade with my school, though it wasn't what we realized. it's just looking back now it's like, i can remember certain groups forming and then later on realizing that so and so were preps, and they were jocks and those ones were scene and so on. i guess i may have just noticed it though cause i was what people called the "pick on" kid (until high school, thank god for new schools ^_^) and was just sort of in tune to reality and overly mature for my age and seeing the people for what they were (mostly pricks) but yea. and please don't take that last bit the wrong way. people keep saying "cause that happened to you doesn't mean it'll happen to your kids" and yea i realize that. it was a 1 in about a million chances that i would be "that kid" and i highly doubt it'll follow my line of kin, so thats not why i'm hesitant of sending my kids, just letting you know in advance cause at some point i know it'll come up lol.

well this is getting rather long so i'm gonna cut it off here>.< lmao

 

[jcottonl02]

I think it is so important for children to go to school, if not purely for the reason of learning in social situations and how to be around others. I understand bullying etc. is also a problem, but I am not sure I know anyone who hasn't said once in their life they have been 'bullied' however severe, and it has made them a better person for it.

Children imvho need to grow up around other children, learn from them, learn how to behave in social situations, interact with others on a daily basis, and catch all those germs, bugs, chicken pox etc. so they grow up with a healthy immune system.

I didn't go to a fabulous school- just a run of the mill junior school, and then an all-girls language college, where I also stayed on to do my a levels. I really enjoyed it and have made life-long friends there. I wouldn't have changed it for anything.

Also I can kind of see where you are coming from about the sex ed. part...I also think it was beneficial in some ways. Althought most of the lesson was spent giggling, there were some benefits. I think I started my cycle when I was 12 years old, but there were many others who had it when they were 9years old in my junior school. Also I guess it helps it not be a taboo anymore. It's just...sex and anyone can talk about it, learn about it etc. and realise how to be safe etc. etc.

Jen