A teacher has perfectly summarised the concept of consent for her Year 3 students and it’s one that all kids should follow.

Liz Kleinrock, who teaches at Citizens of the World Charter School Silver Lake in Los Angeles was inspired by America’s recent debates on sexual violence and decided to teach her kids the ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’ of consent.

Ms Kleinrock shared her brilliant visual aids on social media as a way to keep the conversation going for others.

As reported in Upworthy, she explores all different angles of consent – including questions such as “What if the other person says “No,” but they’re smiling?” or “What if the person wanted a hug yesterday, but doesn’t today?” and also gives kids options if consent is not granted.

Ms Kleinrock explains on her Instagram Page Teach and Transform:
“Today was all about CONSENT. We even explored the grey areas, like if someone says “yes” but their tone and body language really says “no.” Role playing is a great way to reinforce these skills, but they MUST be taught explicitly!”

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A post shared by Liz Kleinrock (@teachandtransform) on Sep 26, 2018 at 3:02pm PDT

Consent is Not Only About Sex

Ms Kleinrock defends her actions of teaching this concept to younger kids saying that these lessons are not directly connected to sex and that the concept of consent should be understand before there is a need to talk about sexual relationships.

The inspiring teach wrote in an article on Tolerance.org saying: “For a lot of adults, the idea of addressing consent with children is alarming because of the relationship between consent and sex. However, it’s important to break down the concept of consent regarding boundaries, comfort, physical interactions and mutual respect before even getting into the subjects of sex, romantic relationships or toxic masculinity.”

She adds: “Students giggle and contribute ideas such as giving hugs and kisses, but also state that it’s important to ask for permission when it comes to sharing and borrowing items from another person. One child proclaims, ‘And telling secrets! You have to ask permission to tell someone else’s secret!’”

Secrets Vs Surprises

Ms Kleinrock has also addressed the issues of ‘secrets’ in her lessons, including when to keep a secret and when not. She says on her Instagram post: “Today we discussed the difference between secrets and surprises, and differentiated between information you should share, and what you shouldn’t share.”

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A post shared by Liz Kleinrock (@teachandtransform) on Oct 3, 2018 at 4:07pm PDT

What an insightful way to teach our kids. We definitely need teachers like Ms Kleinrock on our side of the world!

Have you spoken to your kids about consent? Tell us in the comments below.