Hello Dragonfly. This is one of the few times I will disagree with you and yet still agree with you(if that makes sense) . Certainly young children,should be told that other people should keep hands off. However puberty vary's greatly and so does sexual exploration amongst the young and curious. I don't agree with the Premier's methods and I think that in some areas the gov't should go more slowly.
The facts are that many preteens (12 and younger ) have experimented some form of sexual behaviour or been exploited by someone ( 20% of preteen girls have had some form of serious sexual contact other than playing doctor with someone) and that many preteens have experimented with some forms of illicit drugs or inappropriate alcohol use. The consequence of these happenings can be serious addiction problems(15X's as likely to get addicted as an 18yr old), permanent injury or death. Take Care. paul m
The following is just proof of the logic that I have followed and need not be read unless you are bored.
Girls start puberty as early as 9 yrs of age and and the average age is 10-11. Some are young women, in body, if not in mind by grade 5. A Peel Region report shows that 20% of preteen girls and 30% of preteens boys have been sexually active.
https://www.peelregion.ca/health/sexuality/parents/parents-teens.htm I'm not saying that they need the full course at age 8, but as many kids in the 3rd grade will turn 9 before the end of the year and certainly many of them will turn 11 by the time they are done grade 5, they certainly need information. Various studies also state that most young girls do not take part in sexual activities because of sexual desire, rather it's the need to feel loved or they do it to please someone, or they think all of their friends are doing it. It has been repeatedly shown that often the girls most taken advantage of by predators (older guys) are very young and very unknowledgeable about sexual matters
Unfortunately the consequences of uneducated sexual experiences can be terrible if not deadly. Pregnancy is one of the smaller worries. Sexual transmitted diseases, especially HPV and Aids are killers. While you may think that very young people having sex is something new, it's not. 12th century Catholic law allowed girls who were 12 and over to marry. (boys had to be 14) At the time. Just as a added note, there are roughly 100 pre teen pregnancies reported in Canada each year.
In regards to drugs and alcohol use in preteens, those stats are very hard to come by in Canada, the Gov't does not like to survey any under 12 and most stats just show 12-19 yr old use. However Corrections Cda did do a study and found that of adult prisoners surveyed, 13% began drinking on a regular basis in there preteen yrs and 18% had tried drugs during their preteen yrs.
I did come across a Cdn study that said that the average age of first alcohol intoxication( getting drunk) was age 13 and the average age of the first pot smoking was 14. Both are average, some kids were much younger, some older. What a vast number of studies show is that the earlier a person starts to drink or use illicit drugs , the earlier they will become addicted and have life long problems. Pot isn't the only drug that is a problem, in fact I was surprised to see that far more kids in grade 7 admitted to huffing(getting high by inhaling substances such as glue, paint thinner, aerosol sprays etc) than to using pot. Apparently it's the fact that it's easy to obtain and the fact that kids no nothing about it's dangers. Even I as a young child was warned against the dangers of huffing.