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"These days, young people are very likely to be exposed to all sorts of potentially dangerous sexual approaches, as well as to such things as &amp;#039;sexting&amp;#039; and pornography. So it&amp;#039;s important to ensure that they are equipped with sensible and factually-correct information about sex. Furthermore, in the UK all girls aged 12 to 13 are now offered the vaccine against cervical cancer,&amp;amp;nbsp;and boys too may be offered it quite soon. It is obviously essential that these young people&amp;amp;nbsp;understand what the point of this vaccine is: namely, to protect them against HPV infection occurring during sexual activity. &amp;amp;nbsp; It&amp;#039;s sometimes claimed that sex education encourages youngsters to experiment with sex.&amp;amp;nbsp; But the evidence shows that good sex education tends to delay sexual activity. The risks of early sexual activity Teenage sex involves three serious risks.  Sexually transmitted disease (STD). Most people don&amp;#039;t realise it is easy to catch an STD these days,&amp;amp;nbsp;especially if they are young. In some areas of Britain, 20 per cent of all young adults are carrying chlamydia. The average child of 10 or 12 has no idea at all that this risk exists. Unwanted pregnancy. At the ages of 10 to 13, some children really do not know&amp;amp;nbsp;what causes pregnancy. Even if they do, it&amp;#039;s usual to think pregnancy is something that happens to other people.  Cancer of the cervix. This is usually due to the human papilloma virus (HPV) which is passed on during sex. Often, the original infection occurs when a girl is still in her teens. Fortunately, the vaccine which is now given to 12-13 year old girls&amp;amp;nbsp;will prevent many cases of cancer, but not all.  Does sex education promote promiscuity? Some people still&amp;amp;nbsp;believe that talking to young people about &amp;#039;the facts of life&amp;#039;&amp;amp;nbsp;encourages early sexual activity, but in fact good sex education is vital so people can make informed choices. In Britain most teenage pregnancies occur in young people who have had a relatively poor education,&amp;amp;nbsp;including sex education. All European countries (except Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovenia)&amp;amp;nbsp;have lower teen conception rates than the UK, probably because they have far better sex education than Britain does.&amp;amp;nbsp; As the Family Planning Association put it this year (2015): &amp;quot;The truth is that we are lagging behind other&amp;amp;nbsp;countries... One reason for that has to be the lack of statutory sex and relationships education.&amp;quot; In Holland young people are carefully informed&amp;amp;nbsp;about both the attractions and dangers of sex. As a result, the rate of teen births is one sixth what it is in Britain. The only western country that has a worse teenage pregnancy rate than Britain&amp;#039;s is the USA,&amp;amp;nbsp;where education about sex is patchy or non-existent and may simply consist of promises of chastity. We saw for ourselves the effect of sex education during research for one of our books. We interviewed a group of children in the West Country aged 12 to 13 who were all mums, and a group of children in Hertfordshire whose average age was about the same.   The West Country group had had little or no sex education. Most of them did not even know about periods or how babies were made,&amp;amp;nbsp;until they became pregnant.  The Hertfordshire group had had good sex education, both at school and home. They knew far more theory about sex, but none of them had tried it.   The good news is that in 2015, it was announced that rates of conception in UK teenagers have continued to fall. In England, they are the lowest they&amp;#039;ve ever been since statistics were first gathered in 1969. &amp;amp;nbsp; When should I start telling my children about sex?  It is clear that children need to know about sex,&amp;amp;nbsp;both anatomically and emotionally,&amp;amp;nbsp;and that they need accurate information before puberty.  Children are going to be vulnerable from about the age of 12, and sometimes a good deal earlier,&amp;amp;nbsp;so in a sense, it&amp;#039;s never too early to start. Loads of parents feel anxious about having these kinds of discussions, but think about it as being a long, ongoing process in which you answer questions as they arise rather than go in for one &amp;#039;big&amp;#039; serious talk. If you don&amp;#039;t create an environment where sex is discussed naturally, you will find it enormously difficult to talk to your kids about it later on. And teenagers find it seriously embarrassing to talk to their parents if the subject was taboo when they were younger. In a recent&amp;amp;nbsp;survey, the Family Planning Association&amp;amp;nbsp;found that nearly all parents answered &amp;#039;No&amp;#039; to the question: &amp;#039;Is telling teenagers not to have sex enough to stop teenage pregnancy?&amp;#039;  Indeed, the parents said that in order to bring down the teen pregnancy figures, the Government should give under-18s better sex and relationships education.  But even if attitudes have changed for the better, it seems likely that what parents believe they should do when it comes to talking about sex with their children is not the same as what they actually do. How do I broach the subject?  Our experience over the years suggests that parents are happier to do the talking if they feel prepared and know what words to say. One way of doing this is to buy the parents&amp;#039; pack from the fpa. This costs \u00A38.99&amp;amp;nbsp;and you can get it by emailing fpadirect@fpa.org.uk or by visiting the fpa website.  Tips for parents   Talk about your own experiences. If you were shy about kissing or whether to put an arm round a girl, tell this to your kids. Older children love to hear stories about your growing pains. And it helps them to realise that you understand what it&amp;#039;s like to be fascinated by sex, but nervous at the same time. Talk about feelings as well as anatomy. When young people get into trouble with sex, they often say to health professionals: &amp;#039;No one told us how much we were going to want to do it.&amp;#039; Make sure your kids know that there&amp;#039;s a strong urge to have sex because it&amp;#039;s very nice, but also that it&amp;#039;s worth saving for a special, loving relationship. When your child asks difficult questions, ask them some questions back before you launch into an explanation. This will give you a bit of time and help you to know how much knowledge they have already. Try to create a climate at home where your children can ask about sex. So, for example, if a storyline about sex emerges in a TV programme and they want to know about it, they&amp;#039;ll feel they can ask you. Don&amp;#039;t set aside a special day or time to talk about sex. Most kids find this quite alarming. Instead, be prepared to answer questions as and when they happen. It helps to have the right words to talk about sex. Getting hold of some good books on sex or the parents&amp;#039; pack mentioned above can help. If you and your children are all using the same words for body parts and activities, you&amp;#039;ll feel much less embarrassed. If your child asks a question about sex in a public place like the supermarket, delay answering but promise that you&amp;#039;ll talk about it as soon as you get home. And make sure you do!  Other people also read: How to give your children a good start in life: why is discipline necessary?  Bringing up children: parents are role models. The birds and the bees \u2013 telling the truth: whose responsibility? Last updated 06.08.2015 "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/parenting/a9095/talking-to-pre-adolescent-children-about-sex/>