Idzie wrote a post about an unschoolers perspective on sex and drugs, which I found interesting (so you should all go and read it HERE!) and she's encouraging other unschoolers to write about it, so here I am, writing about it!
Sex. It's a big subject. A big, still slightly awkward subject.
The fact that some people wonder how homeschoolers/unschoolers can learn sex ed. without being in school makes me laugh and laugh and laugh, until I start worrying about their sanity.
In my opinion, school is probably the worst place to learn about sex ed. From what I've heard, it's awkward and not very informative.
So how does one learn about it when not in school?
Well, from your parents, from your friends, and books are always the least awkward solution.
My parents never really gave me "the talk". When I was probably around ten years old, they gave me a few books. I remember my dad suggesting that me and my mom read them together, and I hated that idea. I was mortified at the thought. Those books sat around growing dust for quite awhile, but eventually, I read them. By myself.
Oh, the awkward phase. It's not very pleasant, and it takes awhile to get through, but there is hope! I have officially decided that age eleven was the worst time of my life, because of the awkward phase (and moving to another state....that was rather stressing).
TIP TO PARENTS: To make the awkward phase easier for your child-soon-to-be-teen, do not stress them out. Do not move, do not get a divorce, do not find out you're pregnant, basically, if it causes stress, don't do it!!!!!!! (Easier said then done, I know, but trust me, they don't need anymore stress during this time of their life).
After I got over the awkward phase, and finally regained the ability to talk freely, I came to a few conclusions.
Once you lose your virginity, it's gone forever. But, I think that sex before marriage is fine, under the right circumstances. Also, safe sex is IMPORTANT (to say the least!) or else you could end up taking care of another human being.
My parents trust me to make my own decisions about my body. This doesn't mean that they won't voice their opinions about what I should do with my body, but ultimately, I make all the choices.
My thoughts on drugs are that some are okay and fairly harmless (as for as drugs go) but others seem really nasty, addictive, and possibly life ruining. I guess you could say the same thing about alcohol, it could ruin your life, but if you moderate yourself and know what you're doing, it probably won't. My parents never really gave us (me and my bro) a talk about drugs, we more have open conversations sometimes, but it's not a big topic around here. I have basic drug knowledge, I actually ended up learning about drugs when a friend nearly killed herself by drug use, so I have a rather bitter attitude towards them, and seriously doubt that I'll ever try any.
As for alcohol, that was never forbidden in our household. My parents have always let me have a sip or their beer or wine, from a very early age on (Back then, I mostly took extreme humor in taking a sip, making a terrible face, and spitting it out because it tasted so bad, hahaha!). Even now, I have little interest in alcohol, mostly because I can't stand the taste of most beers and wines (although I must admit to liking champagne!) and I think that if alcohol is just a normal thing, not some forbidden substance, teenagers are less likely to go all out and drink themselves to death.
So there ya go.
2 comments:
Awesome, Stella! :-) I agree, if alcohol isn't a big deal, teens are far less likely to misuse it. I think the same goes for drugs. If parents are spastic about drug use, a teen is far more likely to end up having problems with drugs than if it's not made into such a big deal!
wonderful post Stella. my thoughts are the same about the drugs and alcohol. if we didn't make such a big thing about them, people wouldn't be far less interested in them than they are now.
and I definitely agree; during that awkward phase of a kid's life, the biggest mistake parents can do is to make their kid's life stressful.
Me, like you, had the unfortunate pleasure of going through that stress.
again, though, wonderful post. =]
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