Hurry, ..... its recess time, .... I need condom.

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. (AP) — A new policy in a Massachusetts public school district that makes condoms available to all students, even those in elementary school, is drawing criticism from some who say it goes too far.

Provincetown School Board Chairman Peter Grosso says because there is no set age when sexual activity starts, the committee decided not to set an age for condom availability.

Under the policy, any student requesting a condom from a school nurse must first receive counseling, which includes information on abstinence. The policy does not require the school to contact parents.

The policy was approved by Provincetown's school committee June 10. It takes effect in the fall.

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I would support something like that 150%.

A high school student can't even take a tylenol without a doctor's note, but they're going to give condoms to 4th graders?

I heard on the evening news Governor Patrick phoned officials in Provincetown and they agreed to "step down" from that policy.

A high school student can't even take a tylenol without a doctor's note, but they're going to give condoms to 4th graders?

Kids are having sex at 10, 11, 12 years of age. Also, I don't think you are doing it properly if you ingest a condom...

The culture's gone to shit and I hold the government and their schools responsible.

Next time some idiot asks me why I homeschool I'm going to quote you, Terry. Nice to "see" you, all the same.

The culture's gone to shit and I hold the government and their schools responsible.

Bad parents have nothing to do with it, of course...

Also, kids are starting to have sex at younger and younger ages. You denying that fact doesn't make it go away.

Who created the "bad" parents, Terry?

You tell me, how do you think "we" got to this point?

Who created the "bad" parents, Terry?

You tell me, how do you think "we" got to this point?

I am not at that point. I don't think you are. Just because my kids attend public school doesn't make me a neglectful parent.

I blame it on people that treat their kids as "precious little snowflakes" that can do no wrong.

I believe that creates an air of selfishness and entitlement in children far more than ANY amount of PC crap in schools or welfare handouts.

Sorry, my kids know that I would die for them but the rest of the world is ambivalent to them, at best.

It is not my intention to imply that you are neglectful for sending your children to public schools. I support the right of parents to decide what is best for their children.

I do blame the government for usurping parental rights and for intervening in child rearing at younger and younger ages.

In 1969 I entered Kindergarten in Smithfield RI. We were the first Kindergarten class that school system ever had. It was half a day.

Today, most Kindergarten classes are all day affairs and nearly every public school (if not every one) has a preschool program, many of them the length of the school day. Most of them enroll children as young as three years old. Now many public school districts have programs for two year olds.

Yet the government still isn't satisfied. They want not only to operate these programs in every community, they want to expand them, make them mandatory and provide "services" to toddlers and even infants. Basically they want to take over the lives of our children basically from birth and they are investigating and employing a number of methods to achieve this.

So you can whine and complain about irresponsible parents all you like, but if the parents are irresponsible it is due, in large part, to the public schools they attended and the government agencies that intrude upon the most private of family matters and all those lovely government programs agents of the government got people hooked on.

For example, now nearly every public elementary school in America has an after school program and a very high percentage have before school programs. Schools provide not only lunch but breakfast and ever increasing numbers of families are having these meals provided for free. In some states, teachers are not even allowed to require students supply their own pencils, or cover their textbooks. (RI is one such state) In WV, the DHS or whoever will give you a voucher for new clothes for each and every child.

Who needs to be responsible for their offspring when Big Brother will take care of them for you? They'll provide dental exams and physicals and vaccinations and now they give Suzy a condom at the age of 11 so hopefully she isn't a mommy by age 12. Isn't it all grand?

So you can whine and complain about irresponsible parents all you like, but if the parents are irresponsible it is due, in large part, to the public schools they attended and the government agencies that intrude upon the most private of family matters and all those lovely government programs agents of the government got people hooked on.

Says you. I have never had the school intrude upon the privacy of my family. If the parents are hooked on government programs, perhaps THEIR parents should have raised them with a better work ethic.

For example, now nearly every public elementary school in America has an after school program and a very high percentage have before school programs. Schools provide not only lunch but breakfast and ever increasing numbers of families are having these meals provided for free. In some states, teachers are not even allowed to require students supply their own pencils, or cover their textbooks. (RI is one such state) In WV, the DHS or whoever will give you a voucher for new clothes for each and every child.

If you are below a certain income. Not everybody is eligible for the voucher.

Again, perhaps the parents that use these programs should stop taking charity - perhaps THEIR parents should have raised them better.

I graduated in '86. My parents taught me that there is no such thing as a free lunch and I have made DAMN sure my kids know that.

The fact that you let lazy parents off scot-free is telling. The programs wouldn't be there is the PARENTS didn't use them.

Who needs to be responsible for their offspring when Big Brother will take care of them for you? They'll provide dental exams and physicals and vaccinations and now they give Suzy a condom at the age of 11 so hopefully she isn't a mommy by age 12. Isn't it all grand?

Nobody has offered to pay for my kids vaccinations and kids have ALWAYS gotten physicals in school. My mom and dad had them (born in the 40's).

True, I'd rather Suzy came to me about needing a condom, but kids hide shit from their parents. I'd rather the school provide Suzy with a condom than have Suzy have unprotected sex behind my back.

TerryRC wrote:The culture's gone to shit and I hold the government and their schools responsible.

Bad parents have nothing to do with it, of course...

It has been the past actions of the government and the Public Schools that have been responsible for the "bad parents", ..... dumb arse.

Poorly nurtured and poorly educated students not only makes for poorly nuturing (bad) parents, ....... but it also makes for poorly nurtured and poorly educated "next generation" Educators, ...... and thus the "poorlies" continue to exacerbate within the populace as each year goes by.

History has begun repeating itself. The last time the populace was "dumbed down" to idiot status it was called The Dark Ages and it lasted for 1,300 years and then took another 400 years to achieve the knowledge base of 1st Century Roman Empire, Mediterranean basin, etc.

Terry,

I want you to explain something to me.

My husband is the youngest of 3 children in his family.

The eldest had a shotgun wedding to his hs sweetheart and their firstborn arrived 5 months later. He joined the Army while his wife was expecting their second because there simply were no jobs to be had for a 20 y/o with a hs diploma. He spent 20 years in uniform, received an education, and served his country with honor. He works with networking and network security. His eldest son entered the Army as an officer and is in boot camp right now. His middle son works for Cox Cable and the youngest is in high school.

My husband is the youngest, he quit school at 16. He got his GED and attended culinary school. He got his first job at the age of 12 sweeping floors and restocking the coolers in a bar. That man worked 17 hours yesterday. He's the catering chef at UC and yesterday was Blues, Brews & BBQ. He'll work about 16 today because it's Wine & All That Jazz today.

Neither of these men are perfect. They've made mistakes and have problems but they work hard and take care of their families.

Their brother has worked about 2 out of the 11 years I have known him, maybe 2.25 if you count his participation in a work release program while he was in jail for a while a few years back.

He has at least 4 children by 4 different women. He hasn't seen any except for the youngest since they were toddlers, one he's never seen at all. That girl was young but she was smart and she didn't put his name on the birth certificate and when she married a couple of years later her husband adopted the boy.

So let's talk about the youngest, my niece. That child has been on public assistance since before birth. I'm not kidding. Free prenatal care and WIC and FS for the mom, who also seems allergic to work.

When she was 18 m/o, I told her parents I believed she had a hearing problem. I was dismissed, of course. I really pushed the envelope by mentioning to them that letting her go to bed with a bottle was very damaging for her teeth. Ah, wtf do I know?

Immediately following her 3rd that baby had every tooth in her head capped. Can you imagine? A year ago, she FINALLY had tubes put in her ears because guess what? Aunt Stephanie did have a clue and that child's hearing problem had morphed into a full-blown speech problem that now requires a speech therapist.

Which brings me to public school. She started preschool at 3 years 4 months of age. The bus came and picked her up in the morning and dropped her off just before lunch. The following year she attend all day preschool. I don't understand why the hearing/speech problem wasn't picked up in public preschool, but they didn't until K.

The school feeds her breakfast & lunch for free. Her parents receive food stamps, home heating assistance and free medical care. 2 years ago SOMEHOW that I will NEVER understand that brother was deemed eligible for SS disability benefits. I thought you actually had to work a bit to receive those. He has a heart condition because he smokes both cigarettes & grass like a chimney. He and his g/f consume a case of beer a day between them.

All 3 of these men were raised by the same parents. Their father is an alcoholic, but he went to work every day. He purchased his own home and he fed and clothed his kids with the money he earned working for the railroad. Their mother got a job working at Tudor's when my husband was in school fulltime.

Nobody gave them a free lunch and my husband has never asked anybody for a damn thing and I don't believe the soldier brother has either. The deadbeat is a deadbeat not by example, but by design. The Nanny State takes care of him and all of his needs and all of the needs of the only child he knows. He enjoys a pretty darn good standard of living for a 41 y/o man who has been employed only about 2 of the past 11 years.

What or who made or created this drain upon society? Do you think his parents?

God Bless the United Socialist States of America!

I really pushed the envelope by mentioning to them that letting her go to bed with a bottle was very damaging for her teeth. Ah, wtf do I know?

Immediately following her 3rd that baby had every tooth in her head capped. Can you imagine?

Uh, Stephanie, I'm really gonna hafta disagree with you about that Dental advice.

Ya see, a bunch of my permanent teeth were more than half rotted out by the time I got out of Grade School.

And when I was a baby my Mommy only had two (2) bottles for milk to feed me with ......... and she took both of them to bed with her at night time.



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TerryRC wrote:A high school student can't even take a tylenol without a doctor's note, but they're going to give condoms to 4th graders?

Kids are having sex at 10, 11, 12 years of age. Also, I don't think you are doing it properly if you ingest a condom...

well done....

My brain was going in that direction as a reply but I see Terry beat me to it.

I have two daughters - one is 11 and the other 15. Personally - would love to put chastity belts on both - but don't think that will fly very well.

If (when) sex becomes important enough for either one of them to actually begin checking it out - I would hope they would come to me for advice and supplies. But if not - the school nurse is a perfectly acceptable alternative. Also, we aren't waiting for them to come to us with questions - they know our hopes and expectations. We talk with them and give them tools on how to keep themselves out of situations which could lead to trouble and what to do if that still would occur. This is all "preventable maintenance".

A friend of mine related to me that when she and her hubbie (boyfriend when this story happened) first started having sex, a condom broke. They were frantic as to what to do so they resorted to a Mt. Dew douche. Kids are going to have sex at some point. They need adults they trust they can go to for (correct & safe) information. My friends didn't have anyone to go to. The mind boggles as to some of the consequences that could have occurred in their situation and their remedy.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY don't want to be a grandmother for quite a long time yet. I say pass out condoms with the lunch trays.

Oh dear, Sonja. But don't you know that offering condoms is the same as offering permission? Oh dread!

ziggy wrote:Oh dear, Sonja. But don't you know that offering condoms is the same as offering permission? Oh dread!

lol!

Guess I shouldn't then mention the box of condoms my own mother mailed me my first semester in college!?!??

No, of course you shouldn't mention it. It would be so uncouth of you to do so.

Not that my mom could be uncouth....

SamCogar wrote:

I really pushed the envelope by mentioning to them that letting her go to bed with a bottle was very damaging for her teeth. Ah, wtf do I know?

Immediately following her 3rd that baby had every tooth in her head capped. Can you imagine?

Uh, Stephanie, I'm really gonna hafta disagree with you about that Dental advice.

Ya see, a bunch of my permanent teeth were more than half rotted out by the time I got out of Grade School.

And when I was a baby my Mommy only had two (2) bottles for milk to feed me with ......... and she took both of them to bed with her at night time.

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Sam,

You're talking to a woman who worked in a dental practice for 5 years. With very few exceptions, that kind of decay in a toddler is the result of a baby being put to bed with a bottle of something other than water. My niece (Samantha) had a classic case of bottle mouth. Of course, it could just be something with the name Sam..........

As the mother of those daughters, you are well within your parental rights to allow a school nurse to dispense contraceptives to your girls.

The problem is if Mrs. Jones doesn't want her 11 y/o to have condoms and the school nurse gives them to her, or him. Parental rights do not end at schoolhouse doors any more than parental responsibilities do.

Ok - so how about an "opt out" approach? Or even an "opt in" approach?

I would not view either approach as giving up my parental responsibilties - just making sure that all options are available to my daughters in the hopes they will make informed and safe decisions as well as age appropriate ones.

Well here is where we may be in disagreement. I don't believe a child of 12 can ever make an informed decision to have sex and I know it isn't safe.

Offering someone an umbrella doesn't mean you are offering or giving them permission to go out in the rain.

It only means that if they choose to go out in the rain then they should use that umbrella.

Besides, parents or guardians can not give young males permission to engage in physical sex, only the female who is the object of their intentions can do that.

The best that any parent or guardian can do is to only give the condoms to the females.

If you give them to the young males then they will "flaunt them" in the faces of the females while exclaiming ..... "See here, they want you to have sex with me".

Giving the males condoms makes for a good "ice breaker" for them to broach the subject of the female engaging in sex with them.

Iffen I were young again and in school I know that's what I would do.


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