Podge512

Reminds me of those disgusting, heart rending pictures of Liev Schreiber's son (kid couldn't be any more than 7 or 8) being taken to a convention dressed as Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad, basically dressed as a whore, one of Schreiber kissing him on the lips, one of the kid fellating the handlebar of his scooter and a note reading, "I love when my daddy tucks me in at night." You just know that kid's getting bummed 6 ways from Sunday!

Baichu

Well, when it's coming from hollywood and the music industry I cannot for a moment think its a good thing. Its simply more deception and grooming for the masses that follow this pathetic "artist" and his arranged "wife".

Cheesebooger

Jews are degenerates.

scarlettm512

Well, people should learn the correct anatomical names for their body parts at some point, but I don't really think that it is that big a deal if kids use other names for their body parts. With my kids, we started out when they were very young just referencing either the vagina or penis as a pee-pee. I mean, that was the bodily function associated with that part of the body that they needed to understand, so it wasn't necessary to go into all of that. We just simply stated that boy parts and girl parts look different. As they got older, we referenced them as private parts -- because we wanted to teach the kids about the fact that these are not parts that you show to people whenever you feel like it. There are appropriate places and reasons to show them, but you don't pull down your pants in public, etc. We also wanted the kids to know that these are areas that no one should be touching without having a good reason -- like when a doctor needs to examine you or if mom or dad have to help you get clean after an accident. And, you have the right to keep those parts private and to tell someone that they can't touch you there.

I really think this whole exposing kids to a complete sex education at a very early age is designed more to groom kids rather than helping them overcome any shame over body parts. When you take sex ed in middle school, you can learn the proper names if you haven't already. Until then, as long as you have a name for that body part and can communicate when something is wrong with it that might need medical care -- is it really going to harm a kid if they use the wrong term? I mean, if I go to the doctor because I have a rash on my butt crack, the doctor can still figure out what I mean even though the correct technical term for butt crack is "inter-gluteal cleft". Or if we talk about hitting our "funny bone" which is really not a bone at all but rather comes from the ulnar nerve hitting your humerus. Should we make kids stop saying they hit their funny bone because it isn't "anatomically correct terminology"?

DeathToMasonsASAP

This is PG?

Otto-

Likely not, I agree, but I'm certainly impressed with all the entries on parenting practice here. Thanks to everyone for submitting your views and stories, it's not something I usually think about since I have no children, but it's great to see a peaceful exchange of opinions and experience. Lots of common sense here, beings me back some faith to humanity.

PedoStomper

While I disagree that a 2-year old kid should be taught about sexual subjects in-depth, I myself can remember taking showers with my mother when I was younger, and she did the whole "I have these, and you have this" thing to teach me the differences between the genders. I'm kind of on the fence with this one.

scarlettm512

I took baths and showers with my kids when they were 2 years old. I don't think it gets weird until you get to the point where they are past the potty training stage. Nudity (brief, like if the kids walk in while you are getting dressed or something or changing into a swimsuit in the locker room) isn't going to scar a child and, in fact, kids often want to know if their bodies will look like yours when they grow up -- for my daughter it was yes and for my son it was "no, you'll look like Dad". When the child starts getting older, they will naturally want to avoid seeing you naked anyway. From that point on, you may do some damage if you are forcing them into situations where they see you naked. For very young kids -- as long as you are not parading around naked or in sexy lingerie or behaving in sexually suggestive ways, I don't think it is that big a deal.

PedoStomper

Yes. There is a huge difference between simply BEING nude, and doing something sexual. But one thing to remember is that these are individual parents, who are entitled to teach children in this manner if they want to do so, but we can all agree that they DON'T need to start teaching sex ed to young kids when they first enter school. A parent teaching a kid about sex is fine; the government doing it is sick and should not be tolerated.

scarlettm512

I agree with you about young kids, the school shouldn't be doing it. However, I do think that sex education (the basics of anatomy, reproduction and birth control) should be taught in school in middle school. Parents should have the right to opt out and keep their children out of that class, but sadly there are a lot of parents out there who don't have these conversations with their kids and kids do need to at least know the basics about how to prevent a pregnancy and the risks of STDs. But, no sex ed should happen in a school setting in elementary school. If parents want to start teaching their kids early on, that is fine, but the school programs shouldn't begin until they are puberty aged. And even then, I still think that the main focus should be on abstinence. That isn't teaching kids that sex is bad. It is teaching them that sex comes with risks and responsibilities that they are too young to handle right now.

carmencita

Correct names can be brought in a little later maybe 3. Unless you want the child to come up with these names at parties. That always creates a lot of fun. Showering together is a little strange to me. The boy and dad is ok. But the mom, I don't think so. Also when the boys get to puberty I think showering with another male is not appropriate. I know that my husband tells about how they had to shower together in high school (boys only of course) and this created a lot of shame because of joking etc. Also why do we do this to boys? I do not like it. They should stop showering with mom. I remember there was one woman in our group when younger, she decided this was a great idea and had to prove how "in" she was. So whenever her child left the room to go potty, she would always say don't forget to wipe your vagina. I always said, oh, wow! thanks for telling me, I would not have known. She still kept it up. People are way overdoing this stuff. You can always teach them the correct words later on. They are not missing out. The most important thing you can teach a child is to respect him and herself and others. Anatomical Correctness Run Amok.

Micheal84

Well said.

carmencita

I volunteered at a school for about 8 years and had contact with every age from K thru 8. I am not an expert, but observed a lot about what kids really want, not what we keep foisting on them.

Immelda

Exactly, my little boy has a winkie and girls have foo foos! He bathes and showers with me supervising but on his own :)

carmencita

Yes, this is the way most people do it, but some are really doing weird and crazy things either out of wanting to be "cool" and then there are those that are "kinky". These two are on the Kinky List.

Immelda

My son knows girls have different bits to boys but he has no idea about anything else. In the next couole of years i plan on teaching him about pants safety and how no one should be asking him to show them what's in his underwear. He is 3 next week.

Micheal84

Thats a good way to start i think, and a good way to teach him.

Well thats my opinion, allthough i dont have kids, but my sister has two. Girls 4 and 7 yrs old.