It’s Never Too Early to Teach Consent
I learned this in a kindergarten classroom.
I remember picking up my youngest during his 1st year of kindergarten. I overheard kids arguing. One kid said if she does that, just hit her. This was kindergarten. I was floored. I thought, first these are babies, and second this is where it starts — the land of legos and pokemon.
This was less than a year after my son left a Montessori school. I remember picking him up at the end of the day, after all the other boys had left. He would play dress up in various princess dresses with the other girls — without a care in the world. This was the same time he loved everything rainbow and had his own my little pony — innocence at its best.
I wondered how could he go from such a carefree, gender-neutral environment to a situation where other boys are talking about hitting girls if they did something wrong.
This is the moment it became clear to me that it’s never too early to teach consent. While the teachers did say something eventually, the damage had been done.
