Sex Education

Ok, I am no expert here or anything, but I do have some pretty strong views about this.  I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently as The Child is now five and a half.  I was six when I found out about sex.  My parents didn’t sit me down or anything, and I wasn’t educated this young at school.  I read it in a book.  Bearing in mind at this point I had heard playground gossip about sex (in primary school too, shock horror!), so it wasn’t exactly like it was the biggest surprise.  Anyway, I guess my point here is that I’m confused as to why some people think ignorance is the best policy here, at least until it’s completely unavoidable.  Personally I think kids are less likely to make stupid mistakes if they are better informed.  I read something somewhere the other day where someone was getting het up about the suggestion that girls as young as thirteen should be able to get the pill at the pharmacist rather than having to go to the doctors.  The argument was kids that age shouldn’t be having sex.  No, they shouldn’t, but some will do.  And personally I’d rather The Child know what’s what and be able to get the pill from a pharmacy at that age than not, just in case.  The sex ed I received at school was rubbish.  Needless to say more than one girl had managed to get pregnant before the age of sixteen.  Oh, and while I’m having a rant here, various countries in Europe are more open about sex and stuff.  They have a younger age of consent.  Oh, and they have fewer teen pregnancies and STD’s.  Just some food for thought there.  Knowledge is power and all that.  I really hope that when The Child’s older she will feel able to talk to me about things.  She hasn’t asked me any awkward questions yet, but when she does she won’t be getting any waffle about storks or anything like that.  Sure it’ll be awkward, but I don’t want to confuse the girl.  Of course, I could be very wrong here and end up a very young grandma.  The knowledge didn’t hurt me though.  And I was only six!