By Rahila Ovais
Ontario parents are not holding back their concerns when talking about the new Health and Physical Education (sex-ed) curriculum introduced by the Wynne government. While we may question the appropriateness of these ‘updates’ and also voice our concerns and discomforts on the topic, have we also considered how else do/can our kids get this information?
The internet is an open world to all of us. Do we monitor our kids 24/7 with their devices, at school (whether public or private), out with friends or at a family sleepover?
While I disagree with some of the terms of this curriculum, I want to know how we as parents are going to teach our kids about these pressing issues. Lets say, if we withdraw our kids from the class for that day, how do we ensure our kids will not hear something further misconstrued from their friends?
And then whats wrong with kids learning the names of their body parts or consent? I believe every kid should know how to say NO, and yes as early as 4 years old and there is a very valid reason for that too. Child abuse is a topic like an elephant in the room, it happens where you least expect it and these days our children are at risk via multiple exposures, not just physical abuse but also online! How do we ensure safety of our kids?
Will you have this talk with your kids? Not just talking about puberty but also explaining to them about the risks of sexting or any unwanted sexual touching? Can we be as open with our kids when discussing this topic as school teachers might be?
The real question is: if we are opposing this new curriculum or if we wish to have it revised, in which case, what are our options? What would you do to inform your kids about the risks of todays society? We can have every reason to oppose this new curriculum, but what are we going to do for our kids in this regard? We cant keep them sheltered. What we can do is raise awareness.
We must remember that living in Canada we, our kids and our families are exposed to these challenges day in and day out. Our kids are going to eventually learn about this one way or the other. What we can do is further our teaching of religious, cultural and moral values. That is what we should focus on. Instead of being reactive, let us put our efforts on being proactive in this situation. Ideally we all would like this curriculum to be revised making it more age-appropriate but the government has made it quite clear that won’t be happening. So now we must jump into action on how to communicate to our kids that not everything they learn from school applies to our lifestyle, our religion and our values.
Now is our opportunity to strengthen our bonds with our kids, to give them a heightened understanding of our religion and moral values. Thats where our focus should be. We need to educate ourselves and then only can we educate our kids clearly identifying the challenges of being a Muslim in these times.
About the author:
Rahila Ovais is a Pharmacy Technician working at the Ontario College of Pharmacists. A mother to four, she’s called Jeddah, KSA, where she was born and Karachi, Pakistan, where she was brought up, her homes before moving to Toronto twenty years ago. She is also a very opinionated person who has a hard time keeping her thoughts to herself.
Rumina
February 25, 2015 12:26 pmI hope you’ve read the curriculum release for parent guidelines, teachers is yet to be released!
If you think it’s age appropriate for 6-7-8 yrs old to comprehend facial consensus or through expression for sex, or to see explicit materials to know their body parts which has been taught earlier as private parts not to shown to strangers, and also to be brave enough to sit through the session and not be curious outside in playgrounds then maybe it’s good for those kids!
Not for mine!
Older grade3 wards kids will find out about various sexual
Orientations and gender identity. On Internet alone there’re
152+ genders. What will those kids comprehend from that info? What choices will they make at that age to determine their growth sprouts reaching puberty.
More curiosity ?
It’s better to teach them safety, precaution & protection then explicit details through postures and images of two males or two females.
I don’t teach my kids using that stuff, would you?
Rahila
February 25, 2015 2:53 pmI guess my question is, are we not confident in our upbringing or our religious and family values to supersede what our kids will learn at school?
Nazish
February 27, 2015 12:23 amIt’s not about the confidence in our upbringing or the moral and religious values we hold, it’s about the dangers of exposing innocent minds to unnecessary details about sexuality that will not do any good other than corrupting their pure souls.
Rahila
February 25, 2015 3:09 pmNo matter what “they” throw at us, we have the teachings of the Quran to surpass come what may.
Khaula Mazhar
February 25, 2015 4:34 pmWe need to be able to talk to our children very openly and for that we need to have strong relationships with them. Yes we all love our kids, but as they get older we have to start taking them into confidence and talking with them as friends.Our relationship with our kids will be very different from what we had with our parents. It is a very uncomfortable topic, but if we don’t talk to them about all this, then they will feel shy and not discuss something when they have questions and concerns. As for the young ones I totally agree that I don’t want graphic, explicit details exposed to them. I want to keep my babies innocent and free from such knowledge for as long as I can. We really need to be careful and vigilant when we are giving our kids access to the internet, I personally feel that the smaller devices (cell phones and tablets) are a big NO. They can use a desk top for games and school work, I keep the desk top in my room so there is always someone around when the kids are at the computer. My kids got cell phones when they got in high school and they were old enough for me to have the “talk” with them. And the talk isn’t just once, we have to get chatty with them and discuss things every once in a while.
Rahila
July 22, 2015 9:33 amExactly my point Khaula!
Nazish
February 27, 2015 12:16 amI agree with the notion that we have to be on top of our religious and moral values and should have an in depth knowledge about these issues according to Quran and Sunnah, and we should have open and friendly communication with our kids. Knowing that modesty is an essential part of our faith we cannot digest this explicit sex ed curriculum in its entirety. We as parents need to brain storm and come up with some solid solutions and keep praying that Allah SWT save us and our gernerations to come from all kinds of trials and tribulations, Ameen !
Rahila
February 27, 2015 11:05 pmYes, my point exactly? So what will be your action plan in case this curriculum goes through without any revisions?