Wednesday, February 01, 2006

I'm not ready for this...

As I was driving to Marie's school last night to meet with her teacher, I kept thinking..."my little girl is not old enough to go through this, yet." It seems like just yesterday I was pushing her in a stroller, feeding her with a bottle, and rocking her to sleep at night...and now, I'm being asked to attend a special meeting for all 5th grade parents about "the class" that the kids are going to begin next week---sex education.

Now granted, I certainly have talked to Marie about a number of "related" issues, but I, like many of the parents last night, were pretty surprised as to how much is covered in the 5th grade. I'm not disputing that this is not appropriate, it's just I'm having a hard time realizing that my little girl is not so little anymore.

We were shown a pretty disturbing news-clip that was run a couple of years ago by Diane Sawyer. The whole premise of the report was to show how young our kids are exposed to sex- on TV, the media, school, etc...and the "age of innocence" (which was the title of the report) is becoming younger and younger. The registered nurse who will be teaching this class contends that 5th grade is the perfect age to begin discussing with children not only the biological aspects of sex and intimacy, but also to begin meaningful dialogue with your kids about morality and values. Not exactly the light-hearted talks I usually have with Marie at the dinner table or right before bed. Is there a manual for this????

One of the reasons why I absolutely love the book The Catcher in the Rye is because Holden Caulfield's biggest worry/ also his most admirable character trait (which ultimately causes his nervous breakdown) is that his youngest sister, Phoebe, will grow up too soon and become corrupted by society. Kids need to be kids...and not have to worry about "adult-related" issues like drugs, alcohol, and sex. Let 'em watch the muppets a few more years!!!

With this said, I'll go ahead and brag that I think I've got an incredible daughter whom I love with all my heart...and I'm extremely confident that she will make wise decisions as she grows older and hopefully be able to be there for friends who may turn to her for advice later in life.
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2 comments:

Brian Megilligan said...

Be intentional about scripture with her. I am not looking forward to what you are facing now, but I guess every parent has to eventually.

On the one hand, somethings seem too emotionally challenging for kids to be able to think about and/or worry about and you just have to help them know that only mommy and daddy need to worry about that right now.

On the other hand, the stuff is all around us--how does one keep children from the unavoidable exposure to media all around us? Best to be prepared, I guess. And pray!

So wasn't part of Holden Caulfield's frustration regarding his sister seen in his own inability to be viewed by others as corrupted? I haven't read the book in a while, but it seems like all throughout he wanted to be the hip young rebel, but chickened out at almost every turn. He had an opinion about everyone being fake, but of course, he was fake himself.

February 04, 2006 10:57 PM
Rob Eubank said...

It should prove to be interesting/ challenging- probably a bit more that when I had to tell her about Santa (man, was that hard on me!)...I'll keep you posted.

Yeah, you're absolutely right about Holden being a fake...until the end of the book when it dawned on him what is is he wants/ needs to be...not the hip young rebel that he has failed miserably at, but instead "the catcher in the rye" who spends his life protecting small children from falling over the "cliff"- the infamous metaphor for all the ills of society. The real poignant scene in the novel comes toward the end as he is watching his kid sister play on a carousel and comes to the conclusion that he needs to stay with her and be a part of her life- especially in light of the fact that his other young brother had tragically died.

February 05, 2006 2:32 AM

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