Parents More Likely To Do ‘Facts of Life’ Talk

Parents More Likely To Do ‘Facts of Life’ Talk

Family First NZ is welcoming an international study which has found that by the age of ten years old, most children today will have already had their first ‘facts of life’ talk with their parents.

The online survey of 5,420 parents and 2,569 children aged 5-10 years old was undertaken during May in New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The AVG Technology survey found that:

* the conversation consists of sex, puberty and pornography;

* most parents plan to have the chat about adult topics including pornography, sex and puberty by the time their kids are 10-years-old - porn being the least comfortable topic of discussion;

* some 42% of parents did not have the same discussion with their mum and dad, but 97% said they plan to have it with their kids.

* 76% believe that the Internet has encouraged the conversation on adult themes with children at an increasingly early age.

“This is a great result and shows that parents are now looking to pre-empt the unacceptable messages being pushed in the media, on the internet, and by groups abusing the sex education curriculum which pollute their young children’s minds and innocence. Parents are the best moral gatekeepers for their children,” says Bob McCoskrie, Family First NZ.

“We should be resourcing parents to be empowered to have these talks with their own children.”

“The current approach in many NZ schools sows confusion about right and wrong and says the moral absolute is – use condoms. The government has been funding an agenda which is harmful and misleading to youth and inconsistent with the wishes of parents,” says Mr McCoskrie.

A poll of parents in 2010 found that three out of four parents want the abstinence message taught in sex education – with 69% of kiwis overall supporting the ‘wait’ message.

“Groups operating in some schools, such as the Family Planning Association and Rainbow Youth, are perpetuating the myth that as long as you use a condom, you can pretty well do what you like in terms of promiscuity, experimentation, and fringe behaviours – with little or no information on the physical or emotional ramifications or prevention of disease, or the importance of self-control and responsibility.”

A recent review of sex education resources recommended to adolescents in NZ found that they are seriously flawed with both sins of commission and sins of omission, and that critical life and death information is distorted or ignored.

ENDS

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