For the record, I'm not
supporting anyone in the 2008 election at this point. I'm watching,
reading, and trying to decide between a few candidates. I am voting for
a Democrat, but occasionally like what I hear from a few GOP
candidates. Today thou is a whole 'nother story. In today's The Swamp, Sen. Obama rips into former-MA Gov. Romney over sex ed:
Democrat
Barack Obama yesterday accused Republican Mitt Romney of trying to
score "cheap political points" by telling a group of voters that Obama
supports sex education for children in kindergarten.
Romney was apparently extrapolating about a measure Obama backed in
the Illinois legislature that called for "age-appropriate" sex ed in
the schools. No amount of sex ed is appropriate for a 5-year-old,
Romney said.
But Obama suggested Romney was fooling around with the facts.
"We have to deal with a coarsening of the culture and the
over-sexualization of our young people. Look, I've got two daughters, 9
and 6 years old," Obama told the Associated Press. "Of course, part of
the coarsening of that culture is when politicians try to demagogue
issues to score cheap political points."
"What we shouldn't do is to try to play a political football with
these issues and express them in ways that are honest and truthful,"
Obama said. "Certainly, what we shouldn't do is engage in hypocrisy."
The
idea that Romney thinks that no amount of sex ed is appropriate for a
5-year-old is outrageous. Are we still living in a world of storks
delivering babies? I have a 4-year-old on my hands and she knows she
has a vagina. She knows that moms have special tummies for growing
babies. I'm still working on her remembering either 'womb' or 'uterus'.
We've talked a bit about eggs and how birds lay eggs and humans have
eggs in the special tummy. She knows that her body is her body. She
firmly let me know the other day that a V-neck I was wearing was
"showing your private area!" Um, thanks kid.
We're not at the
point where we tell her EXACTLY how mom & dad made her, but I think
she has a handle on some very, very basic facts. One of my biggest
fears is that she can't defend herself. At least with some education
and confidence, she knows that people are not allowed to touch her in
her private areas. Even Mom, Dad, and her doctors have limits. I want her to OWN her body her entire life.
She's
just like every other 4-year-old. She's curious about her body and
others bodies. She's curious about everything and we try our best to
give her honest information. Of course we let her believe in the Easter
Bunny, Santa Claus, and when the time comes the Tooth Fairy. Her
grandma Irene is in heaven with a few others. But we try to give her
real information when appropriate. There's no sense in her believing
the angels are bowling during a thunder storm. The clouds hit each
other, they go boom. You see the lightening before you hear the thunder
because light travels faster than sound. I'm sure Tom Skilling can give
a much better response, but that's what she gets.
That's what age-appropriate means, Mitt.
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