Sex Education.

[MrIncredible]

At what age do you think Sex/relationship Education should be taught in schools?

I heard on the radio this morning that Children as young as 7 are being taught and are even being shown a cartoon of two adults "making babies"!

Imo I think its is to young, My 6 yr old has asked about babies and I have answered them as honestly as i can without going into graphic detail!

In my day we were taught about the reproduction of stick insects and that was it! never did me any harm ;0)

[ichkeria]

"Seriously Ichkeria, I would far rather be embarrassed when talking to my children about sex education than leaving it to a secondary school teacher (personally feel that under 11 is far too young to know the nuts and bolts). "

Well, we will just have to agree to differ on this. Arguably, the younger you start the less embarrassing it will be, certainly for the child I would say.
And I wasn't saying one shouldn't do it - just making the point that some parents DON'T do it.

[nungate]

There was a book out when my daughter was about six called "where do babies come from" it gave the basic information in a fun cartoon like manner which was clearly aimed at that particular age group this was some time ago (she's now 23) but it didn't go into too much detail, children this age don't need so much information. Same when she got older I got a book called everything you want to know about periods etc. and I waited for her to ask - she did. I told her I wasn't too sure how to explain things to her in a way she might understand (she was 10) but I gave her the book and told her to have a read and if there was anything she wanted to know she had only to ask. A short time later she told me, she'd read the book and everything was fine and that she understood, I told her this was fine but she could still ask me anything about anything and I would always tell her the truth. The trick I suppose is to aim the sex education thing in the right way and keep it age appropriate. Children aged 7 are far too young to have such graphic details imposed on them allow them to be children

[sophie_1003]

Primary school teachers are trained in different areas that's true but secondary teachers aren't so much (to my knowledge) Our input in how to teach sex ed on my course (up to Year 2) was non-existant; I think the primary course who trained up to Year 6 got a couple of lessons on it; I would have a go at teaching it if required but finding out what children already know to subsequently teach properly would be very tricky I feel!

[sherrardk]

Sorry Ichkeria, didn't mean to offend or cause offence. I was just trying to put my point over as an ex-teacher. Even when I left teaching aged 38 I would have felt immensely uncomfortable delivering any form of sex education. From a personal point of view my eldest child is 11 and, so far, the subject hasn't come up. Not really sure how we will deal with it when it does, but we wont ignore it (he has lots of siblings so I am surprised he hasn't asked any questions yet). Yet again, sorry if I have seemed argumentative or offensive.

[sophie_1003]

Sherrard; just as an aside; don't assume he'll ask; my brother was too embarrased to and looked up sex in the dictionary which obviously gave very insufficient information but enough so that he avoided asking mum anymore about it; think she was quite upset about it.

[starone]

I knew nothing whatever about sex until I was well into the senior school and then only what my contemporaries giggled about. When I was about 12 I was coming home from school on the bus and a man was being indecent in the seat across the aisle. I asked my mother what it was and she said don't worry about it - that's how men get. I thought men mas*****ted on buses for years afterwards. I think it would have been better to have actually learned at school. I had some very odd ideas caused by ignorance.

[sherrardk]

Hi Sophie - pretty sure he'd ask his dad before me. Will have to see how it goes.

[starone]

Continuation of above - however, when I tried to tell my daughter the facts of life she didn't want to know, so in the end I gave up and hoped she would learn by other methods. I think she was embarrassed by her mother telling her. It is very difficult to know what is best and in the end I suppose we learn by our own experiences.

[annie0000]

Th only sex education I got was from a teacher in school - my parents just didn't talk about any of that stuff and I was too shy to ask. I was determined that my kids wouldn't be in the same boat, so we have always been quite open about it all on an age appropriate basis. We have always had books for them about how their bodies will grow and change and how babies are made. I don't thrust it at them, the books are in their book case and they read them when they want to and we get the odd questions which can be very embarrassing, but you just have to get on with answering as best you can. I don't have a problem with the lessons in school as to be honest they are not getting to hear anything new, but they find it quite funny that the other kids get all giggly about it all.

[sophie_1003]

Oh dear Starbuck!
Oh that's good sherrard; my mum tried to make my dad have the talk with my brothers but dont think he ever did and they never asked; me on the other hand asked when I was 5 and got books and discussions from then on.

[sherrardk]

My husband is an ex-primary teacher so goes into immense amounts of detail when explaining stuff. Unfortunately, the boy will be bored to tears by the time my husband has finished explaining things (he tries too hard to get all the detail across sometimes). Our poor children will be so full of facts and information soon that they will burst!

[nungate]

Sherrard, that's what I was afraid of with my daughter I tend to get so caught up in the details which is why I got those books - they were a huge help. I felt it was my job to explain these things to her - my mother never did - she knew I was always prepared to answer any and all questions she had, consequently she still feels she can tell me anything even at the grand old age of 23 she still talks to her mum, and I for one am grateful that she feels she can confide in me

[ichkeria]

Sherrardk - no offence taken I assure you!

[Caran]

I remember askiing my mother "Where do babies come from?" I was about 11, she said I will tell you when you are older, she never did, she was so embarrassed about anything like hat. She did attempt to tell me about periods but omitted to tell me where I would be bleeding from, so I was continually looking for leakage from arms, legs, face etc. When we had the baby subject at school we were told vey sketchy information. I had the nerve to ask how the sperm reached the eggs. I was sent to the headmistress for being disruptive in class! We were never told that information.

[peterfox2012]

I would suggest in high schools.

________
SexEnhancerReview.com

[JonnyBoy12]

I think that the age of 5 should be young enough.

[askyourgran]

I remember a programme about teaching children the facts of life was due to be aired on TV I was about 10. My parents were always at home and they made it known that they wanted me to stay at home that evening, (as opposed to playing out, skipping etc,) I sat for all of five minutes, cringing with embarrassment that my parents were watching me watching the programme. I made excuses and went out. We had some sort of sex education as lessons at school about a year later. It was all girls so not so bad.