Editorial: Stop talking at and start talking to (Printed Oct. 26, 2007)
Talking.
It’s what parents – and non-parents alike – are doing throughout the state since last week’s vote by the Portland School Committee to support making contraception available at King Middle School. Not only was the 7-2 vote a hot topic of conversation around local water coolers, the decision went national as media outlets converged on the Pine Tree State to pick apart the plan that offers birth control pills and patches – without parental consent – at the school-based health center.
Parents were given the option of signing their student up for services at the clinic and therefore had the power to make sure they would not be issued birth control – at the school health center, at least – if they so choose.
Critics rallied against the program, many arguing the measure would encourage children to have sex. They talked at the public hearings, on the news and through various media blogging sites. They talked all about their kids and what their kids were doing – but mentions of talking to their children were rare.
But what they should have been doing is sitting at their kitchen tables discussing their feelings and stance with their children. Because the fact is that some children in our middle schools are having sex. While those concerned parents may not have a child who is sexually active – there is a classmate of theirs that is.
This marks a great opportunity for parents to discuss with their children what they deem appropriate behavior. It also opens several doors for discussion about birth control – why they support or don’t support the proposal if the option was to be made locally – as well as how to handle social pressures that children are faced with every day. It is a chance to discuss why kids who have just entered puberty are choosing to make adult decisions, and what the consequences may be.
While some parents are uncomfortable with the thought of birth control being prescribed to 11-year-olds – they should be more uncomfortable with what education, and misinformation, their children are getting from their peers.
Sit down. And talk to your kids, not about them.
It’s what parents – and non-parents alike – are doing throughout the state since last week’s vote by the Portland School Committee to support making contraception available at King Middle School. Not only was the 7-2 vote a hot topic of conversation around local water coolers, the decision went national as media outlets converged on the Pine Tree State to pick apart the plan that offers birth control pills and patches – without parental consent – at the school-based health center.
Parents were given the option of signing their student up for services at the clinic and therefore had the power to make sure they would not be issued birth control – at the school health center, at least – if they so choose.
Critics rallied against the program, many arguing the measure would encourage children to have sex. They talked at the public hearings, on the news and through various media blogging sites. They talked all about their kids and what their kids were doing – but mentions of talking to their children were rare.
But what they should have been doing is sitting at their kitchen tables discussing their feelings and stance with their children. Because the fact is that some children in our middle schools are having sex. While those concerned parents may not have a child who is sexually active – there is a classmate of theirs that is.
This marks a great opportunity for parents to discuss with their children what they deem appropriate behavior. It also opens several doors for discussion about birth control – why they support or don’t support the proposal if the option was to be made locally – as well as how to handle social pressures that children are faced with every day. It is a chance to discuss why kids who have just entered puberty are choosing to make adult decisions, and what the consequences may be.
While some parents are uncomfortable with the thought of birth control being prescribed to 11-year-olds – they should be more uncomfortable with what education, and misinformation, their children are getting from their peers.
Sit down. And talk to your kids, not about them.
this is an issue that should be taken care of. birth control for 12 year old kids is ridiculous. that should be illegal in our state.
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