A German association on sexuality and partnership, Pro Familia, has been criticized after it was revealed that they recommend daycare centers introduce “body exploration rooms” and “sexual games” for your children, per Reduxx.
The issue came to light after a news outlet called BILD reported that parents were sent an email from an Arbeiterwohlfahrt (AWO) child care center in the Hanover region, including a list of ten rules laying out how children in the “body exploration room” would be encouraged to “pet and examine” themselves and their peers.
There were reportedly rules which suggested that children must be within the same age group to take part. The children were not to be more than two years apart, and that at no time should a child “stick anything into another child’s body openings,” per the report.
“All children, especially preschoolers, are aware of the places in the facility where nudity and body exploration can take place,” the message read. “Each child decides for themselves whether and with whom they want to play physical and sexual games. Girls and boys pet and examine each other only as much as is comfortable for themselves and other children.”
One disgruntled father told BILD that his “daughter is five years old” and that “I don’t want boys groping her. I have another child in another daycare center [where] there is no such thing [as an exploration room].”
Another father said: “I’m devastated. We were told that this was determined by the Ministry of Education. As parents we were intimidated. What options do you have if you don’t want this?”
The Ministry of Education in Lower Saxony terminated the program before it was put into effect after the backlash from parents. A representative told BILD that, at the end of May, “the state youth welfare office reported to the Ministry of Education that the pedagogical concept of the physical exploration rooms in the daycare centers cannot last, and that this puts the well-being of the child at risk.”
However, Dirk von der Osten, Chairman of the Board of the AWO Region in Hanover, pushed back, saying: “Exploring one’s own body is part of child development, during which they also learn to recognize their own limits, to express them clearly and to develop shame.”
“Children also play role-playing games in their group rooms. We do not see any child welfare endangerment in this.”
