Thursday, July 2, 2009

Maybe we are just too overprotective

So Matthew has swimmer's ear. I had to take him to the doctor to get some drops. I don't know if they do this at all military bases, but here they divide clinics up between pediatric and adolescent. At his last physical, we were told we could keep our same doctor or he could go up to the adolescent clinic. We had decided we would keep the same doctor.
When I called to make his appointment, they had one available, and only one, in the adolescent clinic.
Dillon had a Bible study to go to, so I had Matthew and the younger 3.
They called Matthew back for his vitals and I was in shock.
The huge bulletin board was covered with nothing but info on STDs. And condoms! Yes, condoms in packages hanging on the board. Even a cartoon of cookie monster holding a condom that said, "C is for condom".
There were statistics about if you have X amount of partners, then you are having sex with all these other people. I was really horrified.
How do they get to decide that it is ok to expose my kids to all that. I watched my kids closely and none of them paid attention to the board, but had Dillon been there, it would have been a different story.
There was a very disturbing picture of a guy with herpes all over his mouth. I can imagine Dillon would have been asking me about it.
When it was time to see the doctor, the bulletin board was covered with what to do if you are raped. And on the counter, instead of cotton swabs and tongue depressors was a huge box of condoms...and a diaphragm. OK, if the point is to prevent STDs, why the diaphragm? Matt says because they consider kids an STD.
Anyway, I was really, realy upset. WE should decide when our kids learn about sex and STDs, NOT the government.
I know it is much worse in schools and it reinforced our decision to homeschool.
And you know, it isn't just adolescents going to the clinic. It is younger siblings going with them. Who are they to expose that to my kids??
The doctor also told Matthew that from now on, they would be meeting with him alone in case he had any questions about anything regarding growing up. I don't know about that either. Matthew said there is no way he's talking to a complete stranger about anything personal!
Maybe we are just way too overprotective, I don't know. I just know that we are not comfortable with him going to the adolescent clinic again. Not yet, anyway.

2 comments:

Mrs B said...

Oh. My.

NO - you are not too protective!!!!

I'm still gobsmacked... that just freaks me out. My kids will see a Dr by themselves when *I* say so.
I've never seen a clinic like you described and pray I never do.
I have seen schools like it though and thus we home educate too LOL

Bless you!!

Truth said...

I would have a hard time at that clinic too. In spite of what I see going on around me, I am still shocked by these things too.

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