The Birds and the Bees...

Armchair23

I think we sometimes get confused between ignorance and innocence.

The average age of the first period is around 12, but some girls start as early as 8. So you really need to know all about it BEFORE it happens, and as that could be 8 waiting till secondary school might be too late.

Your mates might say you can't get pregnant the first time or when you're standing up, I'm living proof they're wrong. Or my Mum was fibbing which is of course out of the question !

Love, respect, kindness and tolerance are learned from birth in the way you treat your kids, friends and family. If you act like a decent human being,chances are your kids will follow your lead. If you can manage to have a loving relationship based on trust and sharing that's a brilliant example for them to see and hopefully they'll be lucky enough to have one themselves.

Some things are just easiest dealt with in a very matter of fact way. I told my son that he should get clean sheets and change his bed when it was damp or smelly, having done a quick run through talk on wet dreams. Not a big deal and I definitely found it the easier route even if he didn't !

Knowing how many 'holes' or orifices you have doesn't stop you believing in the Tooth Fairy or Father Christmas and doesn't stop you being a kid who can enjoy their childhood.

I just don't want to see an unwanted pregnancy, STD, gynae or urinary problem that has happened because of ignorance.

anotheruser

I wonder if the way a lot of schools are structured helps / doesn't help.

My schooling was:

Infant School: Reception / Year 1 / Year 2
Junior School: Year 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
High School: Year 7 / 8 / 9
College: Year 10 / 11 (GCSE years), 13 / 14 (A-Level Years)

There was a little sex education in Year 6, then a lot more in Year 7. Having Year 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 in one school is too much in my opinion, with regard to ages, tempers and people.

KxMx

I think it's fine to teach them about mummy/daddy/babies when they are younger, but when they get a bit older a word or two about feelings and urges being normal is wise.

I was told you should only have sex with someone you love, and once my urges started I thought I was wrong or bad somehow for wanting to have sex with someone I didn't love! But that may have been partly due to me mis-understanding what I had been told, and by that age I didn't really want to ask mum for clarification, too embarrassing, I took what I had been told as gospel



I guess that still follows the age appropriate advice though.

System

I remember sex ed in year 9, and it was a video about periods! Considering i'd started in year 5 i'd already had a god 4 years of them so that was rather useless. I think we touched on putting a condom on a pritt stick ( :eek: ) in year 7 but there really wasn't any talk of sex or relationships which i feel would have been useful.