Sex Ed is always an awkward, exciting and hilarious part of the curriculum for students, as pubescent teens begin to make sense of the weird hormonal urges taking place in their bodies.
While the easy availability of adult content on the internet means that kids are picking up sexy truths a lot earlier than they used to, the blissful naivity of youth hasn’t been completely corrupted just yet, if these example questions from students after a Sex Ed class are anything to go by.
Shared by the friend of a Sex Ed teacher at elementary school, these hilariously innocent questions are pure gold, and remind us of our own clueless and awkward fumblings around the subject of sex. Scroll down below to check them out for yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments!
This Twitter user shared a friend’s experience teaching Sex Ed to elementary schoolers
And they have serious questions
Here’s how people reacted
In my extended family all the kids have grown up from birth surrounded by animals - chickens, cats, dogs, horses, cows - and reproduction is witnessed and explained from before they go to school. They've all grown up well adjusted and knowing how it all works, they're not traumatised or over-awed by it, and they can spot sexual ignorance, intolerance, and bigotry a mile away. I'm all for sex education from the time the first question is asked - if they're old enough to ask the question they're old enough to hear the answer. Anyone who thinks otherwise is imposing their own sexual insecurities or mal-adjustments onto young people who deserve truth over lies, fairy-tales, or inhibited euphemisms that only lead to embarrasment and potentially serious problems when the kids are older.
I couldn't agree with you more! Most people wanting to take children out of sex education stating 'I want to teach them myself' are usually just trying to slow up the child's learning with some misguided idea it keeps them innocent. Do they not realise that children share things in playgrounds anyway?
The reason why *most* parents who feel sex-ed should be an at-home education is because sex is inherently linked with morality and they'd prefer to teach their child within the bounds of the sexual morality they feel is right.
It is the parents responsibility to teach their children about these topics, the government shouldn't have to do it.
To the folks below that insist "it's the parents job, not the government's"- EVERY time a school cuts sex education the rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease infection goes up. Each year, U.S. teens experience as many as 850,000 pregnancies, and youth under age 25 experience about 9.1 million sexually transmitted infections (STIs). By age 18, 70 percent of U.S. females and 62 percent of U.S. males have initiated vaginal sex. NO abstinence-only-until-marriage program has been shown to help teens delay the initiation of sex or to protect themselves when they do initiate sex. Yet, the U.S. government has spent over one billion dollars supporting abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Although the U.S. government ignores it, adolescents have a fundamental human right to accurate and comprehensive sexual health information. The failure to provide it costs the rest of us billions of dollars.
I agree, but I also would say to explain in age appropriate terms and amount of details. Because some people want to explain everything to fine details at age 3, when kid neither has capacity to understand, nor is interested to know to that level.
Obviously it has to be age appropriate!! There are no teachers trying to teach them everything. Who are you talking about???
Not 3 -- although by then they know that the babby comes out of mummy's tummy - they will ask how it got there
I can clearly remember asking my mum if babies came out of your belly button - she must have been embarrassed because she assured me they did
Chris Jones: I read some stories where people try to explain too much for the kids age.
YES!!
Agreed. It is the truth!
And yet rural america largely voted for trump. So much for enlightenment
Bigotry? What does that have to do with this? I think you're being quite rude and presumptuous. Why are your opinions on this correct? I guess open mindedness wasn't on the curriculum then since you feel so absolutely that the way it's dealt with in your family is the one correct way. I think a parent knows best what's appropriate for their child, it has nothing to do with fairy tales, or sexual insecurities. How dare you condescend like that. That might be what was appropriate for your family, but at least have the humility to accept not every person is the same and there is no one correct way to introduce sex Ed to a child.
The comment has downvotes because Josie seems to be mistaking opinions with years of gathered data and research. You think a parent knows best whats appropriate for their child, but theres years of data (but to be fair all you need is common sense) that the sole fact that you had made a baby doesnt automatically qualify you as an expert in child development. We know the sex ed program lowered teen pregnancies and STDs by a lot. The most important thing said in the original comment is ''if the child is old enough to ask the question its old enough to know the answer'', common sense tells you that if you lie to a child about these topics youre uncomfortable with it will learn to distrust you on these topics, if you shut the child down and dont give them answers they will learn to seek answers elsewhere (parents often think this means kids forgot about the subject). The question then becomes do you want your kid to learn from the internet or their peers or from an educated adult?
Bambi, the sex-ed you're talking about occurs in middle to high school. The topic Josie is focusing on is the population of young children in which there is a varying degree of learning/educational/curiosity levels. I'm not so sure anyone is arguing that pre-teem to teens are ready for at least some kind of sex ed, but grade-school is typically age 11 and below. Dian's comment is exactly opinion, though you're trying to imply that shes somehow siting evidence for grade-school sex ed when really she's being exactly a condescending "knows-best". Lets not create a false equivalency just because someone has a differing opinion than yourself.
I fully agree and don't understand why your comment has downvotes.
Agreed, I found Dian's comment totally pompous and condescending.
BambI I’m wondering what comment you read because I don’t think it was mine. If it was mine, I’m thinking you didn’t read it very closely because you made a bunch of critiques about things I never wrote about. I didn't mistake opinion and data, my comment was a reply to effectively an anecdote ergo opinion. No citation or study, just life experience. I did not claim being parent qualified anyone to be an expert in childhood development. STDs and teen pregnancies I don't believe is something to be discussed with a 0-7 year old. I say that because I don't think it's something that can fully comprehended by a child of that age, I never mentioned lying to a child either, I also never mentioned parental discomfort with discussing it. You've read I think two sentences of my comment, decided that I'm against sex Ed, that's just not true. But there is an appropriate approach for each child depending on their age, level of maturity and intellect. I just think is there at 0-7 years.
When I was about 3 or so I knew that somehow my dad was involved in making me but I didn't know how. So when I asked my mum said that I was very, very small and crawled from my dad into my mum's tummy. However my parent's bed was [as common in Germany] two halves of a big bed, with a gap of about 1cm in between the beds. So I asked how I got across the gap if I was so tiny. Mum didn't know and said I probably jumped. I became a scientist.
Quite the Origins story you have xD
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
This story is weird
I had an amazing image in my head of a sperm carrying a paper clip and some dental floss to cross the bed chasm. :D
me and my mate discoverd a stash of porn --Playboy stuff Me and my mate discovered a stash of porn aged 11 - looking back i reallyt wish we had some formal edutation on the subject
That's a really cute story I have to say. I'm also a scientist hi five
Germany doesn't have large beds?
We have large beds - but mostly we have two single mattresses in the frame. Pro: You can sleep much easier, even if the other one's tossing himself around. And you can choose the firmness of the mattress per person (weight, comfort, convenience). Contra: You have a "Besucherritze" ("visitor crack") in between.
I think that explanation is perfect for a child that age
😂😂 “What are you tryin’ to say doc?”
I think it's fantastic to teach young kids about sex. I wish the elementary school my kids go to did. It empowers them, allows them to talk about sex freely which can help prevent sexual abuse.
The Stork and the Gooseberry Bush belief should only last as long as a child believes in Father Christmas
In days gone bye in England - when young children asked where babies came from - it was traditional to tell them the Stork bring them, or that they were found under gooseberry bushes
Oh, in Spain we used to say (grandparents generation) that daddy put a seed into mum's tummy... But after dictature everybody explain plain the reality.
American babies were found under cabbages. We don't have gooseberry bushes, had to find the babies somewhere =)
Gooseberry bush? I don't think many americans know that fairy tale.
Did you then teach them on your own?
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
I don't know how teaching little 8-year-olds about sex is empowering, it just allows them to understand the inappropriate jokes that they say, and allows them to say them more often. I've experienced this myself as I've "graduated" elementary school a couple years ago.
The sex education (reproduction and contraception) really needs to be taught BEFORE puberty and hormones kick in -it's a bit late when the 12 year old girl is pregnant
you can teach young children the facts of reproduction in humans without harming them - they also need to know that the process is reserved for "grown-ups". so they are aware that it is very wrong if another adult approaches them and tells them it is normal and OK
You can talk about sex without doing jokes and you can do jokes about farts, pee, poo and other physiological items. When your jokes are "inapropiate" it's when you need education in the matter, whatever the matter you use in your inapropiate jokes.
Well, since children touch themselves when they are three and before, when they ask and are curious, when we want to protect them from weird relations with weird adult people... love, afectivity and sex is not some words to make jokes and if it is for you, then you have a problem
*you know, penis in vagina (sorry about spelling, my phone ate few letters)
I think it's more about what's do you mean by "teaching about sex". I think there id nothing wrong with 8years old knowing that men and women have different parts and how babies are made (you know, penis vs, sperm and egg, what happens durring pregnancy, etc). But it's more simple biology, then "sex ed".
In my extended family all the kids have grown up from birth surrounded by animals - chickens, cats, dogs, horses, cows - and reproduction is witnessed and explained from before they go to school. They've all grown up well adjusted and knowing how it all works, they're not traumatised or over-awed by it, and they can spot sexual ignorance, intolerance, and bigotry a mile away. I'm all for sex education from the time the first question is asked - if they're old enough to ask the question they're old enough to hear the answer. Anyone who thinks otherwise is imposing their own sexual insecurities or mal-adjustments onto young people who deserve truth over lies, fairy-tales, or inhibited euphemisms that only lead to embarrasment and potentially serious problems when the kids are older.
I couldn't agree with you more! Most people wanting to take children out of sex education stating 'I want to teach them myself' are usually just trying to slow up the child's learning with some misguided idea it keeps them innocent. Do they not realise that children share things in playgrounds anyway?
The reason why *most* parents who feel sex-ed should be an at-home education is because sex is inherently linked with morality and they'd prefer to teach their child within the bounds of the sexual morality they feel is right.
It is the parents responsibility to teach their children about these topics, the government shouldn't have to do it.
To the folks below that insist "it's the parents job, not the government's"- EVERY time a school cuts sex education the rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease infection goes up. Each year, U.S. teens experience as many as 850,000 pregnancies, and youth under age 25 experience about 9.1 million sexually transmitted infections (STIs). By age 18, 70 percent of U.S. females and 62 percent of U.S. males have initiated vaginal sex. NO abstinence-only-until-marriage program has been shown to help teens delay the initiation of sex or to protect themselves when they do initiate sex. Yet, the U.S. government has spent over one billion dollars supporting abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Although the U.S. government ignores it, adolescents have a fundamental human right to accurate and comprehensive sexual health information. The failure to provide it costs the rest of us billions of dollars.
I agree, but I also would say to explain in age appropriate terms and amount of details. Because some people want to explain everything to fine details at age 3, when kid neither has capacity to understand, nor is interested to know to that level.
Obviously it has to be age appropriate!! There are no teachers trying to teach them everything. Who are you talking about???
Not 3 -- although by then they know that the babby comes out of mummy's tummy - they will ask how it got there
I can clearly remember asking my mum if babies came out of your belly button - she must have been embarrassed because she assured me they did
Chris Jones: I read some stories where people try to explain too much for the kids age.
YES!!
Agreed. It is the truth!
And yet rural america largely voted for trump. So much for enlightenment
Bigotry? What does that have to do with this? I think you're being quite rude and presumptuous. Why are your opinions on this correct? I guess open mindedness wasn't on the curriculum then since you feel so absolutely that the way it's dealt with in your family is the one correct way. I think a parent knows best what's appropriate for their child, it has nothing to do with fairy tales, or sexual insecurities. How dare you condescend like that. That might be what was appropriate for your family, but at least have the humility to accept not every person is the same and there is no one correct way to introduce sex Ed to a child.
The comment has downvotes because Josie seems to be mistaking opinions with years of gathered data and research. You think a parent knows best whats appropriate for their child, but theres years of data (but to be fair all you need is common sense) that the sole fact that you had made a baby doesnt automatically qualify you as an expert in child development. We know the sex ed program lowered teen pregnancies and STDs by a lot. The most important thing said in the original comment is ''if the child is old enough to ask the question its old enough to know the answer'', common sense tells you that if you lie to a child about these topics youre uncomfortable with it will learn to distrust you on these topics, if you shut the child down and dont give them answers they will learn to seek answers elsewhere (parents often think this means kids forgot about the subject). The question then becomes do you want your kid to learn from the internet or their peers or from an educated adult?
Bambi, the sex-ed you're talking about occurs in middle to high school. The topic Josie is focusing on is the population of young children in which there is a varying degree of learning/educational/curiosity levels. I'm not so sure anyone is arguing that pre-teem to teens are ready for at least some kind of sex ed, but grade-school is typically age 11 and below. Dian's comment is exactly opinion, though you're trying to imply that shes somehow siting evidence for grade-school sex ed when really she's being exactly a condescending "knows-best". Lets not create a false equivalency just because someone has a differing opinion than yourself.
I fully agree and don't understand why your comment has downvotes.
Agreed, I found Dian's comment totally pompous and condescending.
BambI I’m wondering what comment you read because I don’t think it was mine. If it was mine, I’m thinking you didn’t read it very closely because you made a bunch of critiques about things I never wrote about. I didn't mistake opinion and data, my comment was a reply to effectively an anecdote ergo opinion. No citation or study, just life experience. I did not claim being parent qualified anyone to be an expert in childhood development. STDs and teen pregnancies I don't believe is something to be discussed with a 0-7 year old. I say that because I don't think it's something that can fully comprehended by a child of that age, I never mentioned lying to a child either, I also never mentioned parental discomfort with discussing it. You've read I think two sentences of my comment, decided that I'm against sex Ed, that's just not true. But there is an appropriate approach for each child depending on their age, level of maturity and intellect. I just think is there at 0-7 years.
When I was about 3 or so I knew that somehow my dad was involved in making me but I didn't know how. So when I asked my mum said that I was very, very small and crawled from my dad into my mum's tummy. However my parent's bed was [as common in Germany] two halves of a big bed, with a gap of about 1cm in between the beds. So I asked how I got across the gap if I was so tiny. Mum didn't know and said I probably jumped. I became a scientist.
Quite the Origins story you have xD
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
This story is weird
I had an amazing image in my head of a sperm carrying a paper clip and some dental floss to cross the bed chasm. :D
me and my mate discoverd a stash of porn --Playboy stuff Me and my mate discovered a stash of porn aged 11 - looking back i reallyt wish we had some formal edutation on the subject
That's a really cute story I have to say. I'm also a scientist hi five
Germany doesn't have large beds?
We have large beds - but mostly we have two single mattresses in the frame. Pro: You can sleep much easier, even if the other one's tossing himself around. And you can choose the firmness of the mattress per person (weight, comfort, convenience). Contra: You have a "Besucherritze" ("visitor crack") in between.
I think that explanation is perfect for a child that age
😂😂 “What are you tryin’ to say doc?”
I think it's fantastic to teach young kids about sex. I wish the elementary school my kids go to did. It empowers them, allows them to talk about sex freely which can help prevent sexual abuse.
The Stork and the Gooseberry Bush belief should only last as long as a child believes in Father Christmas
In days gone bye in England - when young children asked where babies came from - it was traditional to tell them the Stork bring them, or that they were found under gooseberry bushes
Oh, in Spain we used to say (grandparents generation) that daddy put a seed into mum's tummy... But after dictature everybody explain plain the reality.
American babies were found under cabbages. We don't have gooseberry bushes, had to find the babies somewhere =)
Gooseberry bush? I don't think many americans know that fairy tale.
Did you then teach them on your own?
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
I don't know how teaching little 8-year-olds about sex is empowering, it just allows them to understand the inappropriate jokes that they say, and allows them to say them more often. I've experienced this myself as I've "graduated" elementary school a couple years ago.
The sex education (reproduction and contraception) really needs to be taught BEFORE puberty and hormones kick in -it's a bit late when the 12 year old girl is pregnant
you can teach young children the facts of reproduction in humans without harming them - they also need to know that the process is reserved for "grown-ups". so they are aware that it is very wrong if another adult approaches them and tells them it is normal and OK
You can talk about sex without doing jokes and you can do jokes about farts, pee, poo and other physiological items. When your jokes are "inapropiate" it's when you need education in the matter, whatever the matter you use in your inapropiate jokes.
Well, since children touch themselves when they are three and before, when they ask and are curious, when we want to protect them from weird relations with weird adult people... love, afectivity and sex is not some words to make jokes and if it is for you, then you have a problem
*you know, penis in vagina (sorry about spelling, my phone ate few letters)
I think it's more about what's do you mean by "teaching about sex". I think there id nothing wrong with 8years old knowing that men and women have different parts and how babies are made (you know, penis vs, sperm and egg, what happens durring pregnancy, etc). But it's more simple biology, then "sex ed".