Should You Talk About Abortion With a 6-Year-Old?

That is what happened when one of the dogs died when I was about that age. That is what happened when one of my grandparents died when I was 7. Yes my parents used very gentle language, and being atheist they didn't try to explain heaven and hell, but let me ask as many questions as I wanted till I understood as well as I was going to understand at that age. I of course learned more as I got older, but children are amazingly perceptive and intelligent. I learned a long time ago never to underestimate that.

The point is, your parents didn't tell you that your grandparents and your dog were rotting maggot food in the ground, did they? NO. They explained it in terms you could grasp (as you yourself stated) and let you ask questions. But the point is that YOUR PARENTS had that discussion with you. Not some stranger who clearly over-stepped their authority.

by the time they finished explaining I did understand actually that they were being eaten by bugs, but also understood the benefits of that and how that would help plants around it grow more beautiful(they used flowers as I remember it now explaining that they would grow more colorful and lively). So yeah, without using the words maggot food or worm food, they did tell me that. I was comforted by the fact that the world would still grow and be a better place because of them.

Again, it's all about HOW the information is presented and WHO is presenting it. The situation in the article was entirely inappropriate for her to have introduced abortion to the children of people she doesn't know.

IF a kid that age asked a question about sex or abortion, it is the PARENTS job to answer the question in whatever way they feel is appropriate for THEIR child. THEY know what the child can and cannot handle and understand and THEY are the only ones with the right to decide when the conversation is appropriate. I talked to my oldest daughter about sex when she was 8. I explained it in terms that SHE was capable of understanding, because as her mother I know her better than some Congresswoman who doesn't know her from a hole in the wall. You seem to be missing the entire point. It is not whether or not 6 year olds should be told about abortion. It is about WHO has the right to decide when to have that conversation? The parents? Or the government?

Stupid children have stupid parents.

A six year old is stupid because they do not know the details of abortion? Wise parents raise their kids gradually, giving them information as they can handle it. Sad your kids don't have the benefit of that caring and concern.

Kids can handle anything. It's the parents who can't handle.

I hope you don't have kids. But if you do, I hope you are prepared for them hating you when they get older, for the thoughtless and callous attitude you have about raising them.

What makes you think I'm thoughtless and callous about raising my children? That's some pretty flawed logic you have there.

You didn't read anything you wrote before you pressed 'submit', did you? Kids CANNOT handle "anything". Without parents to filter what their kids are exposed to, who knows what kind of mess they grow up to be? If "anything" is ok, then I suppose you wouldn't mind your kids watching sex scenes in a movie? Or gore in a horror movie? At the age of 6? My logic isn't flawed, your idea of exposing kids to everything at such a young age is what's flawed.

Yes, my kids have seen plenty of gratuitous sex and violence on TV and in movies but it hasn't messed them up. They don't have bad dreams, that's a good sign. From what I've personally witnessed, I'm pretty sure that messed up kids are the ones that pick up and emulate the intolerant attitudes of their messed up parents.

How old are your kids, that you let them watch sex scenes, and exactly how graphic is the sex you're letting them watch? And there is the kind of violence you see on the news, or say maybe a shootout or car crash in a movie, and then there is the kind of violence in movies like 'Saw' and it's sequels. I have an 8 year old daughter. Do I want her watching graphic sex and bloody torture and demented violence? Hell no! At 8 years old she is STILL to young to be exposed to that kind of thing, and a 6 year old is younger still. It saddens me that you have such a blase' attitude towards protecting your kids from things they aren't ready for yet. My daughter likes monster movies, but she can tell the difference between fantasy and reality, and she'd be far less likely to suffer emotional distress over seeing a werewolf attacking a vampire (Van Helsing) than she would watching some guy rip his own face off to escape a deranged killer (one of the Saw movies). One couldn't happen, the other (in the screwed up world we live in) unfortunately could. She knows the difference between monsters with an air of fantasy around them, and the kind of violence that occurs between men. Your kids may not be bothered by it now ( that YOU know of), but I hope it doesn't come back to someday bite you in the ass.

What amazes me is not that a Republican fundamentalist christian spewed out her ugly agenda to 6 year olds but, there are people here that voted 'yes' they think its okay.

What amazes me is how none of the people here who voted 'no' bothered to explain why.

You must not be reading the blogs you don't agree with. Lots of us "no votes" are explaining why. Open your eyes. (And your mind.) A little fresh air and sunshine is a wonderful thing.

And you are the most amazing one yet. Perhaps, if your parents had bothered to guide your critical thinking back when you were six, you wouldn't be so far below the curve today, and your children wouldn't be riding the little bus to school so they can attend classes in those modular buildings near the parking lot.

Yep. Ignorant and stupid. I was right about you.

Are you blind? Stupid? Almost EVERY person here who voted NO, gave a reason. I have given it OVER AND OVER AND OVER. As have NUMEROUS other people on this thread. Which leads me to believe your problem is a combination of ignorance and stupidity. A dangerous combination. Please do not reproduce.

It has nothing to do with her being a Republican - it has everything to do with her state of mind which I think is just plain out of control....

Who does this woman think she is????!!!! Fr the love of all that's holy, what was going through her mind??? She'd best be pleased this Grammy didn't have a child in that class.....

HELL NO! GET REAL?

thats too young you could brainwash her...

Clearly that was the point.

Why would a 6-year old child want to discuss his baby brother or baby sister being vacuum-siphoned through a stainless-steel bar straw in a Doctor's office? Discuss saving money in his piggy bank. Discuss how he should wait until others finish talking and then take his turn, thus, to not interrupt when grown-ups are talking. Phonics lessons related to multi-syllables should be practiced as well. Six year olds will be inquisitive enough without wasting their time on irrelevant political garbage.

they are too young to understand, and she really screwed up

Holy Crap! Can't we just allow kids to be kids? Jean Schmidt really screwed this up! Jean this is for YOU!

It does provide a perfect opener for the discussion at home. One thing to remember your kids will always learn something sooner than you are willing to tell them. Sex and Drugs. I learned the hard way, my kids are learning the easy way.

Yeah, sure it provides an "opener". But would the kid have thought of it on their own if it hadn't been introduced to them by a stranger? Probably not. Most 6 year olds don't know what sex is, let alone abortion.

Don't know. I wouldn't classify Schmidt, a "stranger". I would rather me teach my kids about sex. I would rather Schmidt open up the dialogue if I didn't rather thant little billy up the street with my daughter.

Not a stranger? Does she know them personally? On a first name basis? Been over to the house for dinner, or had them over to hers? I doubt "little Billy up the street" has any more idea of what abortion is than your daughter did before the crackpot congresswoman brought it to her attention. A 6 yr old will ask the question when they are old enough to THINK of the question. And really? You want the government taking your right to parent away from you? That is what this woman did. She took the rights away from the parents of every child in that room. And this wasn't about sex education. She introduced the topic of abortion to children who were too young to have even heard the word.

Honestly. Crackpot congresswoman? I guess the President is stranger then too. Gimme a break.

Yes, the President is a stranger. He doesn't KNOW my kids. I would no more want that information coming fom him than I would from this nut Schmidt. I AM THEIR MOTHER. It is MY DECISION who gets to tell them anything, and WHAT they get to tell them. Do you honestly not comprehend that fact? Just because she's a congresswoman doesn't make her family, for christ's sake! Her political office does not make her any less of a stranger. How is it possible that you are still missing the point? And do you even have kids?

Yup you are right it is your decision. It is your decision only. Only you can tell your kids anything. Everything your kids do all falls on you. No one else may do anything near or around your kids. If someone so much sneezes in the direction of your kids all hell should break because by golly no one should sneeze in their direction because the are your kids.

How dare anyone say anything to your kids because it wasn't approved by you. God help your kids when the get older.

"And do you even have kids?" Click on my picture and look at my profile.

"How is it possible that you are still missing the point?" Here I am thinking the same of you.

You're absurd. I didn't say any of the crap you put in your reply. All I am saying, is that when I send my kids to school, there is a limit to what is appropriate for a 6 year old to be exposed to, and I as the parent am the ONLY one with the right to make that determination. Oh, why am I wasting my time talking to you? If you had any hope of being able to comprehend this discussion, we wouldn't still be having it.

I am not sure why you keep replying. Take your kids out of the school system and home school them then. It is your right as a parent to do that. But give me break about her being a stranger. I agree she shouldn't have said what she did. I don't think she should be tied to the stake and set aflame because of it.

I am sure you were first on the list to sue the school system.

No, idiot. I didn't sue the school system. Why would I be? For one thing, my kids isn't a student there. For another, I wouldn't send my kids to Catholic school (which is where this happened). And lastly, in a public school (which both my children attend) they send home letters to the parents giving them the right to opt their kids out of anything they deem their child to be too young for. And also, I never said she should be burned at the stake. Such a melodramatic nitwit you are! And yes, look in the dictionary. She is a STRANGER. Just because she's an elected official, doesn't make her less of a stranger. And the fact that you don't know the difference, doesn't say much for your intelligence (or lack thereof).

Melodramatic nitwit? Nice.

I call it like I see it.