Kid2: …so that’s why Ariadne* was so upset.
Defense Attorney: But it was never your intention to hurt her feelings?
Kid2: No! I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings!
Defense Attorney: Can you explain to the court again, step by step, the events that led up to Ariadne’s time-out?
Kid2: Okay, so…I told Ariadne I would do the hundred board with her. But then Artemis…wait. I’ll draw it for you.
I’ve been seeing this post about a daughter’s questions about her mom’s makeup in my news feed recently, and it’s made me think. Christine Burke describes how her daughter’s simple question made her see herself through a 7 year-old’s eyes and examine why she spent so much time and effort contouring, highlighting, plucking, cleansing, and otherwise enhancing her looks.
Does wearing makeup make me a bad feminist?
Yesterday I spent the day going over the newly released 2015 Ontario Health and Physical Education Curriculum (Elementary) with a fine-toothed comb to generate a comprehensive précis made up of every single quote that had anything to do with the “sex ed” parts.
Unfortunately, misconceptions and misinformation about this curriculum are continuing to make their way around the internet, mostly because people seem bound and determined to willfully ignore the actual facts before forming an opinion.
So today I’m going to address the most common myths about the new curriculum.
The sky is [not] falling! The 2015 Ontario Sex Education Curriculum Myths and Facts
Explicit sexual content, including oral and anal sex, consent, and rape will be taught to children as young as 6.
Today is the day!! The revised 2015 Ontario Health And Physical Education Curriculum (including, of greatest interest to most people, sexual education) has finally been released. Hooray!!! This means that at long last we can actually put aside our speculations and take ACTUAL FACTS AND QUOTATIONS woefully out of context!!
![The sky is [not] falling! A comprehensive precis of the 2015 Ontario Health and Physical Education Curriculum - Elementary 2015 Ontario Elementary schools sexual education curriculum; #summary](http://www.picklesink.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2015-Ontario-Elementary-schools-sexual-education-curriculum-summary.jpg)
The sky is [not] falling! A comprehensive precis of the 2015 Ontario Health and Physical Education Curriculum – Elementary
Just kidding! We’re all going to act like grown-ups here and assess the facts objectively before jumping to any conclusions. And to help out with that, I’ve taken some time this morning to go over the new curriculum with a fine-tooth comb and provide you with a summary.
In one of my university social work class there was an intense argument about nature versus nurture – Is empathy innate or learned? As I recall, I took the innate side of the argument then but I’ve since changed my tune. I believe that empathy can and should be taught starting at a young age.
The Oxford Dictionary defines empathy as, “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another,” and Wikipedia notes, “One may need to have a certain amount of empathy before being able to experience compassion.” I think of empathy as the ability to recognize how another person feels and compassion as the drive help them feel better. Both empathy and compassion have been important parts of my life and I feel that they are two of the most crucial interpersonal skills I can pass on to my children.
Kid1 and Carol grin at each other. Carol was my nanny when I was young. She was disabled by a brain aneurysm and is mostly non-verbal, but she can still make her feelings known!
I did mention that this blog talks about my love affair with coffee, didn’t I?
Previously only available on Facebook and Twitter, Team Pickles is proud to present the NEW and IMPROVED
Eternal coffee, strong to save, Whose stimulation I so crave, Who bidd’st me from my slumber deep, When I’ve had insufficient sleep. O hear us when we cry to thee: Deliver sweet caffeine to me! #coffeehymns
Enjoy!
~ karyn
“I would NEVER…”
Of all the phrases I wish we parents…heck, people in general…would stop using, this one tops the list.
Back in the day, when I worked for Children’s Aid, I heard this from clients all the time: “You don’t get it because you don’t have kids. You haven’t been in my shoes. You can’t possibly understand. How can you tell me what to do?” SO annoying, amiright?”
I would nod sympathetically and patiently explain yet again that I completely understood their misgivings, but although I might not have children of my own, I had a lot of experience and training, not to mention a university degree in child development and specialized training in child welfare and assessment.
If I had a time machine, I would go back and apologize to all those clients and give the smug little university grad I was a smack upside the head because I Just. Didn’t. Get. It.
Pickles Family Meeting
January 26, 2015
Agenda
1.0 Money and math
2.0 Other business
Family meetings: Often useful. Sometimes confusing.
Minutes
Kid1 called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm.
Kid1 asked Kid2 to put her dolls away. Kid2 declined with extreme prejudice.
Happy Halloween, everyone!
What a short, strange trip it’s been! I had my first ever viral post this week when the news of North Ward School in Paris banning Halloween costumes broke. I was *almost* on Canada AM but was bumped at the last minute for a “breaking news story.” (My guess was something that started with “J” and rhymed with “misogynistic creep-omeshi” but, y’know, we’ll never know for sure what really happened, right?) Continue reading
Here’s one for the “What is the world coming to?” files.
This gem scrolled through my Facebook feed yesterday: A friend’s children’s school has decided to forgo Halloween this year in favour of…I don’t know…Friday, I guess. The decision was attributed to the “staff” and the reasons behind it were given as follows: Continue reading