Twitter-witter!

[tree_and_leaf]

• 22:17 I do like Candlemas. #
• 22:27 @ParrotKnight Well, one of the choir did once set fire to their hair, but no harm was done. And there weren't even minor incidents tonight. #
• 22:39 @angevin2 I feel like I'm being manipulated, but it's so adorable I don't actually care... #
• 08:29 So not only can the south of England not cope with snow, neither can their travel websites? *Rolls eyes in irritatingly Scottish manner* #
• 08:45 Oh come on, random Tory, it's simply not true that sex ed lowers the age people atart to have sex. It's far more complicated than that. #
• 10:17 Snow! Yay! We've not got very much, but it is very pretty... #
• 10:48 @ParrotKnight Never mind the Canadians, it's the sniggering from anywhere north of the Midlands that ought to embarrass them... #
• 11:43 So if Candlemas is _snowy_, what happens? If Candlemas day is frost and snow, winter ... can have another go? ... is about to blow? #
• 12:38 Wondering what Word has done to my page margins...? #
• 13:18 Ah, it's 13:20. This explains why I feel so very hungry. *Squelches off to buy sandwiches* #
• 13:48 Grauniad reckons men with scars sexier, but only for short term flings: tinyurl.com/amut45 #
• 15:30 Facebook hates my computer now :( #
• 16:21 Also, I have ear-ache. #
• 16:28 @GMWWemyss Sounds marvellous - just right for this sort of weather. #
• 17:49 I really have forgotten how to write CVs for no-academic jobs. Help! #
• 18:18 Off to Cubs. Scientist badge work - could be fun. Or chaotic! #

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Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

Well, quite. It's not what they get in the classroom that's the problem, by and large, but you can't keep children from being exposed to the-world-in-general. Or I suppose you could, but it wouldn't be at all good for them, and liable to lead to disaster later.

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

Regrettably, what goes on in the classroom all too often has to make up for the inadequacies of not only society but the family as well. There are all too many unhappy parents lurching from failed relationship to failed relationship, or staying in a relationship which is frankly unhealthy not only for themselves but for their children as well, because they think that any relationship is better than none. Or who are too embarassed to discuss relationships and intimacy with their children.

I would welcome education about sexuality in all its forms, together with an examination of intimacy and relationships, if only to counter the terrible pressure from society as a whole. Schools need to prepare children for life, and that includes things they may not need to know for many years, including not only the basic biology and what goes where, to the emotional consequences of behaviours, what can go right, and what can go wrong- including how to deal with anything from sexually transmitted diseases to sexual problems such as erectile disfunction (which affects a LOT of men) or unplanned pregnancy, miscarriage and fetility problems. It isn't a question of them racing out to try it, it is a question of them being prepared for what life might throw at them.

One of the saddest things I have ever seen was a girl of about fifteen or so who was in the same hospital as me when I had my elder son. She had a really really creepy "partner" who made every woman on the ward feel uncomfortable. We went into labour on the same night. I was 41 weeks pregnant. She was only 22 weeks gone. Her baby died. She came to see me the next day with her mother as they were about to leave. I said how sorry I was- she held my son for a few moments and then she left. To this day I still wonder how she is and how she coped with the death of her child at such a young age. I wonder if she had had a proper education in sexuality and relationships if she would have found herself in that situation at such a young age. I hope she's alright.

[tree_and_leaf]

That is indeed a tremendously sad story - and you're quite right about the role of schools, I think (poor teachers; they've got a very difficult job.)