Why do we play with the intelligence and innocence of childhood? Why force political agendas and social norms on children who are still trying to understand and navigate their community and society? The majority of children do not fully understand who or what they are and as educators, our job is to create the environment for development and growth.

In my years of being in early years, I have enjoyed child lead play, free play and mostly the pretend corner. Children become and take up roles that they can imagine. Sometimes boys take up being a mother and a father, and other times girls do the same. Psychology has shown that a child from a mixed-sex family unit does not necessarily, as an adult, have a mixed-sex relationship; and a child from a same-sex family unit does not necessarily, as an adult, have a same-sex relationship. The majority of individuals in a same-sex relationship have been from an opposite-sex family unit, and the educational establishment had no input. Children experiment but it does not mean this is who they are. A child that kisses another child from the same sex for the first time should not be labelled or sexually instigated to feel a certain way. They are still discovering and identifying who they are.

When bombarded with information teenagers or adolescents tend to turn off, like they usually do. More teenagers/adolescents identify as bi-sexual rather than in a same-sex relationship, though they may not have had sex. They wonder why so much attention is given to same-sex relationship in schools if more identity as bi-sexual. In Psychology, sexual experimenting is part of growing up; however, it does not confine the child. We are not to teach children to be sexual. Nature has taken care of this as it is natural for human beings to be sexual. The agenda of reducing teenage pregnancy was so driven at one point in UK that some statistics showed it was reduced. Adolescent girls were told they have rights over their body and given choices on how they wanted to deal with unwanted pregnancies. However, education was lacking on the future consequence of what can happen to the body when such decisions are taken. The most important word is ‘educate’. Let us continue to educate children rather than push agendas that play with the emotional intelligence of children.

As practitioners, we are not to force children or as some teenagers put it ‘brainwash’. We are to educate, observe children and encourage learning. With teenagers/adolescents we are to have discussions that will not make them feel like outsiders if they say something contrary to the political agenda. They understand human rights more than we think and expect that individuals should be treated fairly with respect; but they also have thoughts, free will, belief, the environment and science to influence them. We need to stop this agenda driven scenarios and focus on the education of children. Children have free will and are affected by their environment; they do become adults and think on decisions. As educators our focus should be on making children better contributors in society, to have respect for the human race, foster that our differences make us stronger, respect the rule of law and good governance. Social and political agendas should not be forced on Children. It is not just nor fair on them. The agenda should be on giving children the right to informed choices. If there is common law, why should we throw common sense out of the window?