School sends home Sex-Ed 'puberty checklist' - but parents are 'disgusted'

"I'd be p*ssed off if my child got this as homework," one parent said about the controversial task.

A recent homework task set from a Melbourne primary school as part of a sex education program has sparked debate among parents over its appropriateness.

The ‘puberty checklist’ was designed to provide children with an understanding of the sexual changes they may go through, but some parents have found it controversial for its anatomically specific details.

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The puberty checklist that sparked debate

A photo of the checklist was shared in the Melbourne Mums Facebook group, and it instructs students to do the homework “with an adult at home” to “see how much they know.”

The anonymous poster wrote: “Thoughts on this? In my opinion, I think it's quite wrong for a primary school to give this as homework... let kids be kids, why encourage this so early?

She added that she thought that some parts were okay but others were “questionable” and could have been “worded differently.”

The checklist asks children to go through a list of puberty changes with their adult and ask them what part they found “the easiest or the hardest.”

Some of the changes were: Feeling hungrier, needing more sleep, hips widening, muscles growing bigger and arms and legs growing longer. 

Others were: Penis grows bigger, starts making sperm, vaginal wetness, nipples become more sensitive, more erections, clitoris hardens. 

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"I'd be pissed"

Out of the 370 comments, the main concerns were the perceived explicitness and age-inappropriateness of the task. 

“I’d be pissed if my child came home with this,” one said.

Someone else called it, “Disgusting.”

Another wrote: “While I agree the idea is there and [it’s] good for kids to familiarise themselves with both male and female puberty — I don’t understand why they would use some of that vocabulary.”

“I mean come on, vaginal wetness? Seriously? Like was there no other way to appropriately word that? Some of these need an explanation of what is happening rather than a simplified cringe version.”

"I think it's great. Takes the secretiveness out of it"

On the other hand, supporters of the task emphasised it’s necessary to provide children with accurate information early on.

“Kids need to learn this,” one advocate said. “Better at home and school than anywhere else... we shouldn't be ashamed of our bodies and their functions.”

Then this person agreed, saying, “Personally I think it’s great! Taking the secretiveness out of it and allowing parents to have that open relationship with their kids. Kids these days are exposed to things from primary school anyway so prepare them!”

“Whilst potentially confronting subject matter, I can see it is encouraging open and honest dialogue between families,” another supporter shared.

“It is age appropriate and mapped to global standards”

To find out more about the task, Kidspot spoke to Vanessa Hamilton from Talking The Talk Healthy Sexuality Education, the company behind the checklist.

“This is a homework sheet intended for parents, the teacher actually instructs the students to take it home to their adults to do it with them - ‘see how much they know of what we learned today’,” she says about the task, which is part of the Talking The Talk Virtual Classroom program.  

Hamilton explains that the homework is adapted from the Department of Education Catching on Early Resource.

“It’s also age appropriate and mapped to global standards in education and research that tells us children benefit from understanding the changes that happen to their bodies,” she says. 

“The changes in the checklist are puberty changes that can happen to students as early as eight, but on average between eight to 13 for bodies with vagina and ovaries, nine - 14 for bodies with penis and testicles. Years five and six are aged 10, 11, 12 and this is the year level this task is used in,” Hamilton explains.

“It’s a myth that teaching kids about sexuality will destroy their innocence”

Many commenters in the Facebook post believed that teaching kids this stuff at a young age will “destroy their innocence” - a sentiment that Hamilton says is a “myth.”

“This is one of the most problematic beliefs. It implies that human sexuality, and learning about it, is dirty, bad, shameful, harmful or wrong. This is not the case,” she says.

“Providing children with comprehensive, adequate, age-appropriate human sexuality education from a young age and throughout life has many proven benefits. It actually empowers them, protects them from abuse and gives them a vocabulary to talk to an adult if something is wrong.” 

The checklist is backed up with additional resources and education

She also clarified that there are additional resources for teachers and parents for them to assist in delivering this program. These include:

• Teachers are trained to facilitate content that is created by a sexuality education expert (Hamilton) mapped to the Australian curriculum.

• Parents are invited to a live training session (in person or via Zoom) to talk about the importance of discussing it with their children. 

• Parents are provided with a 64-page conversation guidebook and links to relevant global research-based resources. 
• The school notifies the parents of what day and time students will have their lessons so that they can check in with conversations about it at home.

Hamilton concludes: “Children are getting a sexuality education every day from the world around them - porn is a major influence as is advertising, social media, and popular culture.  Parents need to be the main educators and they need to do it earlier than they think.”

Originally published as School sends home Sex-Ed 'puberty checklist' - but parents are 'disgusted'