Parents are urged to become familiar with the increase in sexual assaults in schools (in the toilets and playgrounds) including assaults on very young school children in Years 1 and 2 by older students. Parents need to know the advice that has been given to teachers in relation to providing children with “opportunities to engage in developmentally appropriate sex” and exactly what is being taught in classrooms. Given the increased computer accessibility to pornography and given children are becoming ‘sexualised’ at much early ages, parents need to think through their own strategies and the values they want for their families, to be sure their children are safe and well informed, within moral parameters.
There have been a number of very important articles appearing in newspapers recently throughout Australia and internationally that can help parents become aware of current trends in schools. The information requires parents to think through issues of child safety, sex education, healthy body awareness and functioning and values for their children.
Parents need to have thought through how they are going to provide their children with accurate information and appropriate values, at appropriate stages of development. Topics about:
- anatomy and reproduction
- healthy body image, body functioning and natural exploration (at home)
- understanding relationships
- stranger danger
- pornography and inappropriate media
- computer usage
- gender issues
- child safety
need parental attention and input. Parents surely can’t leave all these issues to teachers and schools and expect that governmental policies are going to provide correctly the right kind of input for their children, can they?
“Parents need to take responsibility; parents need to parent intentionally and with pre-determined steps and discussions at different times of their children’s lives for their child’s safety, education and values,” Sherrin stated recently. Podcast – 4BC SEX ISSUES
Parents are encouraged to actively understand how their children are being protected and safe at school and what is being taught in human relationships’ education and science, for example.
“Parents need to work with teachers and schools to become involved and to know what the curriculum teaches their children in classrooms, to support one another, so that children benefit from the right information at the right time.”Podcast – 4BC SEX ISSUES
“But ultimately, parents need to take full responsibility for teaching and guiding their children to learn about issues of safety, relationships, sex, values, appropriate behavior and respect for others, and have direct control over computer usage and media input in general,” Sherrin stated.”Podcast – 4BC SEX ISSUES
We have listed a number of newspaper articles, websites, organisations and products to which parents can refer, to increase their awareness of issues of sex, sexuality, child safety, assault, media and education.
These resources can act as stimulus materials to help support families and parents become informed, think through the current issues facing their children, at home and at school, and to think through and work out how they are going to handle these very real issues for their own children:
Issue of schoolchildren sexually assaulting each other in Queensland is being ignored - Herald Sun
This comes amid the claims that Queensland teachers were told at a recent workshop ... “all children require opportunities to engage in developmentally appropriate sex and sexuality exploration".
Advice to teachers on sex alarms LNP - Sydney Morning Herald
The opposition says few Queensland parents will stomach the advice offered during a professional development series run by Education Queensland and ...
Sexual play in schools 'normal' - experts - Herald Sun
A professional development series run by Education Queensland and Queensland Health, designed to help teachers cope with the growing problem, ...
Schools file 12000 child harm reports - NEWS.com.au
The report is being considered by Queensland's education stakeholders, including the State Government, the Queensland Catholic Education Commission and the ...
Teachers embarrassed over sex lessons - The Independent
Promoting positive gender relationships - FINDINGS
The Education Queensland policy most relevant to this project is the Gender Equity in EducationPolicy (CS-01). This policy was first issued in July 1992....
Queensland Child Safety Services
Bravehearts Inc.
Parents can now keep their children safe by controlling the use and balancing the use of computers at home. Find out how you can monitor and regulate the use of computers, website, social and recreational use of computers for your children at home. Visit http://fruition.com.au/Tools/123EducateMeSoftware