Cheyenne
Ms. Smarty Pantsless
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2000
- Posts
- 59,553
<snip>
When my daughter was 2 to 3 years old she attended a cooperative parents' preschool (in the midwest) part time. The children went through a period in which they were heavily involved in "playing doctor". As you may imagine, this stirred up quite a bit of anxiety in the parents. For several months, parents meetings focused on this issue. There were heated discussions and much controversy, but we were able to come to an agreement which I believe was a healthy outcome. Parents talked about their own sexual upbringing, including the mystery, guilt and shame that surrounded much of their initiation into sexuality. We talked about the clearing the air of fear, and focusing on how we wanted our own children to learn about their bodies.
It was decided that guidelines for safety and respect were in order, but that we should not curtail, shame or redirect their natural exploration with one another. We talked to the children (at home and in the daycare setting) about respecting their bodies and the game of "playing doctor" which included not putting anything (objects, etc.) into a girl's vagina, not pulling (hurting) the boy's penis, but being able to look at one another's bodies and observing the differences between boys and girls, if both children were equally interested in such exploration. Children were interested in the way peeing was different for boys and girls, the way the genitals looked, and yes children did know that their parents did something with these parts of the body that was a bit secretive, maybe exotic in some way. Whatever questions the children asked, adults answered. Where babies came from? (a big topic as many children at the center were having siblings) how they were made? And many children at the center were present in some capacity when their own siblings were born.
The result was that children explored each other in a safe (and supervised) manner in a little tent they set up to go into when they wanted to "play doctor". (Of course, other play activities could and did happen in the tent as well). One of the daycare workers would stand by, beside the tent to supervise unobtrusively. This was decided by the parents, so that other children who were not interested in such play (perhaps younger) would proceed to this interest on their own, and so that children would learn respect for privacy about their bodies.
I realize that this is by no means the norm in terms of a cooperative environment to answer our children's natural curiosity and wonder about their bodies. And not all situations will lend themselves to allow such exploration to flourish (and subside) in a natural manner. I was disappointed at the lack of awareness or interest in this issue when my son attended daycare in a different setting and state (California). However, the underlying messages of this very ideal situation in which my daughter was fortunate to experience, were the values of respect, wonder and a positive relationship to her body that are so important and so neglected in our culture. <snip>
Full article at: http://www.parentsoup.com/print/0,7853,501412,00.html
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Would the parents on the board send their kids to a tent to play doctor?
When my daughter was 2 to 3 years old she attended a cooperative parents' preschool (in the midwest) part time. The children went through a period in which they were heavily involved in "playing doctor". As you may imagine, this stirred up quite a bit of anxiety in the parents. For several months, parents meetings focused on this issue. There were heated discussions and much controversy, but we were able to come to an agreement which I believe was a healthy outcome. Parents talked about their own sexual upbringing, including the mystery, guilt and shame that surrounded much of their initiation into sexuality. We talked about the clearing the air of fear, and focusing on how we wanted our own children to learn about their bodies.
It was decided that guidelines for safety and respect were in order, but that we should not curtail, shame or redirect their natural exploration with one another. We talked to the children (at home and in the daycare setting) about respecting their bodies and the game of "playing doctor" which included not putting anything (objects, etc.) into a girl's vagina, not pulling (hurting) the boy's penis, but being able to look at one another's bodies and observing the differences between boys and girls, if both children were equally interested in such exploration. Children were interested in the way peeing was different for boys and girls, the way the genitals looked, and yes children did know that their parents did something with these parts of the body that was a bit secretive, maybe exotic in some way. Whatever questions the children asked, adults answered. Where babies came from? (a big topic as many children at the center were having siblings) how they were made? And many children at the center were present in some capacity when their own siblings were born.
The result was that children explored each other in a safe (and supervised) manner in a little tent they set up to go into when they wanted to "play doctor". (Of course, other play activities could and did happen in the tent as well). One of the daycare workers would stand by, beside the tent to supervise unobtrusively. This was decided by the parents, so that other children who were not interested in such play (perhaps younger) would proceed to this interest on their own, and so that children would learn respect for privacy about their bodies.
I realize that this is by no means the norm in terms of a cooperative environment to answer our children's natural curiosity and wonder about their bodies. And not all situations will lend themselves to allow such exploration to flourish (and subside) in a natural manner. I was disappointed at the lack of awareness or interest in this issue when my son attended daycare in a different setting and state (California). However, the underlying messages of this very ideal situation in which my daughter was fortunate to experience, were the values of respect, wonder and a positive relationship to her body that are so important and so neglected in our culture. <snip>
Full article at: http://www.parentsoup.com/print/0,7853,501412,00.html
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Would the parents on the board send their kids to a tent to play doctor?
Last edited:
