When I was six a boy I knew told me the rudiments of the
birds and the bees when we were out playing one day. I was horrified by what I
heard, could not believe it was true and
insisted that my mum and dad would
never have done anything so disgusting.
He replied, as sardonically as a six-year-old has it in
him to be: "Yes they have, at least four times ..." (I have three
sisters).
If I can still remember the incident so vividly, I dread
to think what impact it would have on a four-year-old.
But, despite the screaming headlines, that's not entirely
what Brook and the Family Planning Association (FPA) are calling for today.
The charities want to see four-year-olds start to get a
grounding in the basics - like learning about the names of body parts and different
types of relationships - so they feel more able to tackle the more complex
aspects as they get older.
The FPA's chief executive, Julie Bentley, has had to
defend her stance in various interviews, but she says the earlier this sort of
education starts the more confident, informed and sensible teenagers they will
turn out to be.
She says that far from jumping into bed with the first
person they see after learning about sex and relationships, informed teenagers
tend to have later and safer sex.
The moves should also help parents talk to their children
about sex - something school inspectors found they shy away from - rather than
fobbing off the difficult questions with tales of storks.
Bentley holds no truck with those that preach abstinence
either.
The US, where the programme comes from, has the highest
teen pregnancy rates in the developed world - a third of babies born are to
mothers aged 20 or less - and a frighteningly high proportion of teenagers (one
in four) have sexually transmitted infections.
But what do you think? Are you up front with your
children about sex and relationships? Do you wish your parents or teachers had
told you more at an earlier age? Or do you think it's a subject to be broached
much later on?
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