Speaking with my sister this evening she has told me of a news article in which the head of the Brook advisory is lobbying for compulsory sex education from four years of age, is this so? (I cant find the article) can anyone find a link? and what are your

I read about it in the paper yesterday.

I do circle time with 30 five year olds, trust me, they struggle with topics like what they want to be when they grow up so trying to teach them about sex at that age is totally ridiculous, it would just be very confusing for them in my opinion.

This isn't a new thing though, there has been talk of these lessons for a few years now.

Type, sex education for 5 year olds into google, there is stuff that goes back to 2004 about it.

There's this link about it - from Sky News.
There's a button the site that you can click on to get the latest news about it.
(I haven't actually tried it myself).

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Lunchtime-Debate-1230pm-Web-chat-Should... copy

And my opinion?
I hope all parents would keep their children off school on the days this sex education would take place. Children of that age just do NOT need to be taught about sex and I'm sure they would find it confusing and disturbing.

Truely... The world is stark staring bonkers! Surely they mean FORTY?

We have seen the end of childhood at younger and youngerr ages over the last couple of decades, and now it seems to be cast aside in the interests of education?

What ameobic brained Imbecilic cretin came up with this one? If anything we should be fighting to let our kids have a childhood, there is so much that ends innocence out there already without adding to it!

My daughter aged 4 went to a puppet show (part of nursery) that was about abuse a few weeks back. I agreed as it said on the leaflet it mainly focused on bulling. She refused to talk about it for a few days after being just saying it was OK and then one day while giving me a cuddle asked me if it was a "secret cuddle". I reassured her several times it wasn't and after some convincing she said that was ok then because secret cuddles are bad. She was visibility worried about it all and quite upset over it all. She has since also been a bit more clingy with me and less with other people she is normally cuddly with.

I have found the whole thing a bit upsetting and think it is far to young to put thoughts like that in kids heads.

Slightly off topic I know but my point is was it was all more info than she could handle. She already knows all she needs to know at that age eg not to go off with strangers etc.

I think we are making kids grow up to quick. I certainly don't want my kids at this age getting any form of sex education of anyone but me at that age and it is for me to just how I will answer any questions I am asked after all noone knows my kids better than me.

I think the time to tell them is when they know what to ask. And this is not the school or the state's responsibility. This decision has to be made by the parents. I have given my son a basic explanation of sex (at the age of five) but I wouldn't have chosen such a young age for all children. I only explained to him because his questions where specific and persistent. And I haven't told him everything of course, because there are still questions that haven't yet occurred to him. When they do, I will answer. I DO wish the state would stop trying to parent every child in the nation. They're actually trying to parent the parents! Have a little faith in us, honestly!!!

Unfortunately there are always those of a more permissive and liberal persuasion that wish to thrust their views upon the rest of us.

If you tell children what "those bits" are for, they're going to get curious and want to experiment.

I honestly think this sort of policy will do far more harm than good.

4 is simply far too early to be teaching them about sex; leave it until they're preparing to go to high school.

At that sort of age, a one-size fits all approach is totally inappropriate at any age. A child's capacity to understand information given, is very varied, thus the information must be specifically tailored to the understanding of that child. IMO, such an approach, is very much like taking a Power Press to crack a walnut.

Broadly, I am in favour of Rainchild's approach, the best time to give the information, is when the question is asked. It is relatively easy for the parent or guardian of a child, to establish the level of that child's understanding and give information appropriately.

This has the additional benefit, of building a rapport with the child, essential for more detailed discussions in future. Both my sister and myself, have adopted this approach with our respective children. As a result of this, the rapport we have with our children is significantly, closer than we had with our parents.