Brilliant post, jacqui.

I agree with so very much in there. My kids too learnt from me, first. I was left with the dilemma of not actually wanting my daughter to see the school video, as I found it disturbing, but I knew that all the other kids would see it and stories would abound in the playground, so I watched it with her, quietly, at home, and put some humour into it, as well as love...She still squirmed, and I silently fumed, feeling that I was being made to do this against my will, but at least she knew what was coming the next day.

She found it all deeply intrusive, particularly having boys there, when all the personal details of women's bodies were being discussed, and the boys too looked deeply uncomfortable when their bodies were discussed. The sexual behaviour and the things that now go on, get said and done at school disturb me greatly, and I'm talking about what the kids say to one another, how they behave towards one another.
My young lad was out of school by 7, so he never had to endure it all, and has grown up to be relaxed and calm. I think it freaks many kids out to be honest, particularly the way it is an on-going 'process' for so many years...I'd use the word 'indoctrinisation' but I know many won't agree with me.

And yes, Pester Power, another thing brought in by the Corporate B*stards, has a great deal to answer for, as have parents who give in to it all the time. The sad thing is that nothing means anything to the children. They get what they want, when they want it, then, within days or weeks they're bored with it and trying to keep up with the next 'new' thing that everyone else has. Very sad. There's no excitement of longing for something, saving up, hoping at birthdays and Christmas...It's just there, all the time, same as 'sex' is, just another 'thing' to have when you want it, instant gratification, with absolutely no magic or meaning.

And yes, Backwoodsman...

"We had absolutely NO sex-education in school WHATSOEVER. The S-word was unmentionable, taboo. But I knew of only one girl who got pregnant. So is sex-education the answer or part of the problem?"

...I believe very much that 'sex education' IS a huge part of the problem. There is also, as of last time I enquired, no National Curruculum for it, which means it's left entirely to the discretion of each headteacher. One headteacher in North Devon, went to prison for paedeophile offences not long ago.

I rest my case.

I also have this theory, which I guess many will regard as kind of weird, about the AIDS epidemic.   It opened up the gates for those with 'other agendas' to start telling kids *everything* about sex, on a national scale.

Sorry, but I've known too many dodgy people linked to schools to sit back and feel comfortable. One of my daughter's previous teachers also now serving time for having paedeophile details on his computer, onto which he loaded photos of the young girls in his care, thankfully *not* my child. He had a camera rigged up in his classroom, just under the shelves, where he kept many things. He'd always ask the young girls who wore skirts to reach things down for him...and "Click!"

I guess he thought it was his own form of sex education.

Nothing can replace kind and loving parents, at the end of the day, who have time and space for their children.