" Sex education 'should begin at four' "

[dice]

Sex education 'should begin at four

By Tulip Mazumdar
Newsbeat health reporter

Mandatory sex and relationship education for children as young as four is needed to reduce the rising teenage STI and abortion rate, according to two leading sexual health charities.




Brook and Family Planning Association (FPA) claim the government is failing young people because they're not giving them enough information about the emotional side of sex and relationships.

Chief Executive of Brook Simon Blake says the government need to "make it part of the curriculum, signal to people that you (the government) really are serious and we will see some impact on teenage pregnancy, on abortion rates, on access to contraception".

The number of under 25s with the most common STIs, including chlamydia, genital warts and herpes, rose in the last set of statistics between 2005 and 2006.

The latest abortion figures showed a 10% rise in the number of under 16s having terminations.

Getting the facts right

Julie Bentley is chief executive of FPA. She said: "Young people will find information and if we don't give it to them in a responsible way, they'll find it from elsewhere. Pornography is a good example… what it does is it distorts their understanding about sex."

Children in Norfolk learn to differentiate body parts


But Sarah Jane Hayes, who has two children, aged six and one, said: "It's far too early. I wouldn't be discussing it with my children at that age so I wouldn't want the school to be doing it… because they're too young to understand and they don't need to know at that age."

Northern Ireland has just this year made Relationships and Sexuality Education compulsory for school children from the age of five, but critics say the delivery of the new curriculum has been "patchy".

Elsewhere, schools must teach pupils the basics of human reproduction as part of their science lessons, but there is nothing in there about the emotional side of sex and relationships.

Brook and FPA say those aspects are the most important when it comes to giving children the confidence in the future to make safe decisions about their sexual health.

'Not making it into a big deal'

Freethorpe Primary School in Norfolk has been teaching Sex and Relationship Education since 2005.

Year 2 pupils who are six and seven years old learn about the difference between male and females.

They use laminated cards with the names of body parts including, shoulder, kidneys, vagina, penis, and arms, to learn which parts belong to both sexes or just males or females.

Juliet Le-Grice co-ordinates their SRE programme.

Mum of two Kerry Johnson thinks four is too young


She said: "The focus is developing their self-esteem and knowledge so they can make informed healthy life-style decisions.

"With the knowledge that within Europe, Britain has a high pregnancy rate. It is important to give them those ideas from a very young age."

But outside the school gates 23 year-old mum of two Kerry Johnson says "doing it (sex and relationship education) from the age of four, means they're going to think about it more.

"When really, at four years-old they shouldn't be thinking about it at all. I think they should just be kids."

The government in England is looking into whether to make Sex and Relationship Education compulsory.

Ministers in Scotland and Wales say they have no plans to make it compulsory at the moment.

Source: BBC News

Persoanlly 4 is too young an age to be taught about sex. I couldn't even imagine how I'd react to such information.

 

[xcalibur]

I think kids should just be kids..
Sex ed should start at 11, when girls aren't "icky" any more.

P.S.: Awesome avatar

 

[CockroachMan]

I think kids should just be kids..

QFT

Kids should start learning about those things around 11 or 12.. when weird things start to happen to their bodies XP

 

[Hadrian]

Let children keep their innocence, god knows they seem to lose it quicker by each year.

 

[ScuberSteve]

FOUR?!?!

Wow.

I learned this stuff in school when I was 10, but started being creepy and gross at age 8...

I thought I was cool.

 

[DaRk_ViVi]

4? Are they crazy? I think they should learn them by themself as it happens here in Italy, no one in school is going to teach you how this things works (at least not the teachers

).

Actually in italian schools they just say what a penis and a vagina are and why they exist.

 

[kevenka]

6th grade was when the wierd sensation started...but I don't remember how old I was.

 

[wilddenim]

I completely disagree!! Four years old are too young to start sex education! They should enjoy their innocence. In my view, if they start at 4, they might be more curious and cause the teenage pregnancy to increase.

I'm a godmother to 3 and half years old twin girls, and I can't even say swear words in front of them, let alone a sex education!!

 

[Panzer Tacticer]

This is sufficiently stupid to be depressingly dumb.

At 4 you have only recently taught them not to shit in their pants.
At 4 you have only recently managed to get them to eat on their own.
At 4 they are likely barely able to speak coherently.

And some dumb ass wants to teach them the indecipherable realities of sex?

I think a little 4 year old boy can tell that he's a boy, and his sister is a girl based on noticing what she pees with is different.

Beyond that what is there to tell a 4 year old?

Oh if you have unprotected sex you can get a girl pregnant?
Always use a condum so you don't get a disease?

Most 4 year olds can barely comprehend where babies come from. Catching mom and dad having sex, you can likely just tell them it's a special mommy daddy hug and they'll accept it.

And considering I have already raised a child, I am not just spouting conjecture. I often think this crap comes from fools that have never head kids.

You need sex ed the second your son can get a hard on, or the second your daughter can menstruate.
And it's their parents job, not some damn school.

 

[NightKry]

Let children keep their innocence, god knows they seem to lose it quicker by each year.

Yeah, I agree... I was being a "big buddy" to them this year, and wow, some of them are just out right vulgar. Quote: "When I grow up, I'm going to become a naked man and run around the city with a bazooka". Those were kindergartens.
Then I went to my friends' house and her younger bro had a friend over, who was around grade two, and well, didn't know the difference between a girl and a boy, so he thought it would hurt me if he punched me in the crotch..

he went around saying that he wanted to hump us (four 14 year old girls) and started groping one of my friend.. >__> very strange...

 

[Vater Unser]

Hmm...
4-year old kids will most likely be offended by sex ed, they really have other things on their mind at that age - like learning how to speak properly

Why should they be taught sex ed like 8-10 years before they're even able to procreate or get infected with an STD?
It's not like teenagers don't know that sex makes babies and can transmit diseases...they know the risks, so does it really make a difference if you educate them earlier?

 

[DarkAura]

At four? WTF. I learned it when I was like 11. Kids are more mature then, they can take it. At four they can barely write their own name, let alone learn about sexual sex.

 

[Pizzaroo]

why do people even care about this...

 

[DarkAura]

Cuz it's our future. If we sex ed our kids at four, will it be better?

 

[Raganook]

There is absolutely no clash in this topic.

Four years old is absolutely too young. The social development of a 4-year-old-child is in no way related to sex. 4 year olds are making friends, developing hobbies, skinning their knees and getting to know themselves and their families.

Sex education only is important when Sex becomes a relevant topic in ones life, which is that magical time we all remember as puberty.

 

[NeSchn]

Jesus, let kids be kids. Start sex education at 11 or 12.

 

[bahamuta]

What jerk voted yes? Can u believe this guys?!

 

[deathfisaro]

Dude I kept hypnotizing myself to believe "four" meant "fourth grade"

I have no idea what kind of 4 year olds already have STI. (I still call them STDs, why sudden name change? Since when?)
Even, spread their STI to their pre-menstrual (as in before their very first) "partners"

I don't think it's really healthy to shove sex ed into under 10 year olds.

 

[silent sniper]

For those who actually agree to this statement, wathc this south park episode: http://www.southparkzone.com/episodes/507/...Condom-Use.html


where they start teaching in FUCKING KINDERGARTEN!

 

[BlueStar]

For those who actually agree to this statement, wathc this south park episode: http://www.southparkzone.com/episodes/507/...Condom-Use.html


where they start teaching in FUCKING KINDERGARTEN!

I wasn't aware that South Park was a documentary.

At the moment there's pretty much zero sex education up to a certain age and then (depending on your country) *bam* at puberty they try and teach it all at once which means they primarily focus on mechanics and neglect a lot of other stuff because there simply isn't time. Seeing as the question is if it should begin at four, I'm presuming it's not going to be the same kind of stuff you're learning about at 15. So if the question is should we start teaching kids basic things about relationships and the responsibility that comes with them when they start school and work up to the mechanics, STDs etc as then get older then I'd vote yes (If the GBA temp voting system worked for me on this PC). If you want to simplify this into a scaremongering headline like "Plan to teach kids sex0rz at four" then feel free.

The fact people go into a fit of hysterics at stuff like this is the reason why countries with a rod up their ass about seeing a sideboob on TV have such huge levels of teenage pregnacy, abortion and STDs compared to countries like Sweden where there's a much more laid back attitude and it's not a case of keeping a kid in a box for 15 years then thrusting a book with a picture of a cock into their hand and running away.