Hi! Parent of a 12-year-old here. This summer I received an email about the intention of my local public school district to teach a unit on sex education in the

Hi! Parent of a 12-year-old here. This summer I received an email about the intention of my local public school district to teach a unit on sex education in the fall, in SEVENTH GRADE. Meanwhile, my daughter has had her period more than a year, as have most or all of her friends. She has multiple friends in her class who express either transgender or gender fluid identities. In fifth and sixth grade, boys and girls were already hugging in the hallways, "dating," and talking about things at a level that would shock most people. Seriously, even her siblings, ten years older, are shocked at how young some of this stuff is talked about, or the details of what is shared. This isn't just "old fogey" expressing shock, my 21-year-old is shocked. The reason for the delayed instruction is simple: it's the result of a long legal battle that has seen conservative parents in my state trying to eliminate it entirely, and settling (for now) with gender-segregated opt-out instruction several years too late to do much good. Fortunately, my daughter received good instructions from her parents beginning when she was eight, and professes to understand that whatever sexuality or gender identity one express when she is 12 may or may not be a sexuality or gender expression that they stick with as an adult.