Don't Make Them Drink the Tea

My daughter Katrina couldn't wait to show me John Oliver's latest episode of "Last Week Tonight" on HBO because the controversial topic of the week was the deplorable state of sex education in schools in our country.  Don't get HBO?  Watch it below!

Think that's good?  Even better, the video that compares consenting to sex to consenting to have a cup of tea.  I laughed so hard my cheeks are hurting!  But consent is still a serious topic, all giggling aside.

Since my kids were homeschooled they did not have to hear any of the kind of nonsense some kids are putting up with in the school system, though I will admit some homeschooled children are unfortunately hearing worse than what they are teaching in the schools.  As young as the age of 8 or 9 I gave them access to the book Asking about Sex and Growing Up : A Question-and-Answer Book for Boys and Girls by Joanna Cole.  Topics range from the basic changing bodies/anatomy stuff all the way to homosexuality, as well as the outcomes of sex such as AIDS and other STDs to pregnancy.  Also covered, of course, are contraception options as well as options for unwanted pregnancies?  Think that's too much information?  My daughter read that book repeatedly, along with The Care and Keeping of You 2: The Body Book for Older Girls which is published by American Girl.  And that young lady grew up to become a Women's Studies major who is almost done getting her Masters in Social Entrepreneurship (aka "Being Awesome" per Katrina) and actively pursuing that elusive job with Planned Parenthood so she can go out and give women the information they need to make their own choices about their bodies and their health.

And you thought because I wasn't going anywhere I'd have nothing to say!  I'm hoping to get up to Baraboo to pick up some tea (I'll make sure to get consent before I pour some for anyone!) and do some hiking before I leave for Newfoundland on the 21st, but until then how about you share your sex ed experience if you remember it.  I remember the ridiculous movie we watched in grade school about menstruation that warned us not to take hot showers while menstruating...and the box of "supplies" my mother sent away for from Kimberly Clark that included a sanitary belt for heaven's sakes.  Did they not know that it was the late 1970's and no one was using those anymore?