<p>The school might argue that merely asking questions shouldn’t really be more shocking than what the questions themselves actually are about (drug use and abuse, especially).</p>
<p>OK, I don’t think the substance abuse questions are shocking…it’s easy for a kid to laugh and check off “no” “no” “never” and “no.” But the specificity of the questions about sexuality and sexual practices is a little…intrusive? Not sure of the word I want. I just think it can take away their innocence. And it may be hard to believe in this day and age of everything being out there publicly, on TV, Youtube, and street corners, but some kids still have innocence. They haven’t been exposed and don’t want to be. They’re late bloomers as far as the opposite sex goes and that whooshing sound you heard was innuendo going right over their heads. But a directly worded question is something else, and enough of these questions being asked by adults may give them the idea that “everyone” is “doing it” and there is something wrong with them. </p>
<p>It’s a fine line. Like if you suspect a child is being abused, you might have to ask them questions that implant ideas or create false memories. But the alternative would be to NOT ask the questions and never find out about the abuse.</p>
<p>Yes, The Amber Spyglass had lots to talk about. I didn’t think it was a very good book, but it was certainly, um, interesting to read a supposedly mainstream book marketed to children from a big publishing house that featured God dying on camera (killed by a bunch of crazed, sociopathic Jesuits), and climaxed with a pair of 14-year-olds saving the universe by having sex (not on camera) and then breaking up.</p>
<p>“My D loves Ellen Hopkins. One of the books I read centered around several kids who were in a facility for mental health issues and suicide.”</p>
<p>Mom60, would that book be Impulse? Did you like the book? It sound liks a book my daughter might like.</p>