Can we stop having a go at me! I have my beliefs, you have yours! Fine.

Yes, I'm generalising... from what I know of REAL LIFE, not from what I hear on fora. Fine, I may only know people who are very different from the people on BB, but it does offer a different perspective. And yes, as everything I do teaches my son something now, by DH and I enjoying a hug and a kiss in front of DS and being faithful to each other does teach him something. I also did not mean "daft" as an insult, just saying that is not what will necessarily happen - something to which I will attribute to language differences and be more careful next time. Also, I didn't call your parenting daft, just your analysis of "if you say no your child will disrespect you" as that won't necessarily happen.

The reason we have high teen pregnancy rates is that kids know the mechanics but not the emotions. We don't know HOW to say "stop and put on a condom". We don't know HOW to go on the Pill. We just get told every day through the TV and magazines that sex is great and only losers don't have sex (again, we don't watch or read that sort of thing in our house, another way of educating DS). We don't get taught that it's OK to say no or insist on contraception, only that contraception is out there. Many teenagers - not all, just many - assume that it just won't happen to them (because they "did it" in the shower, or it was their first time, or they went to the loo afterwards).

Ultimately, you asked me a question, I thought about it and gave you a full answer. You don't like the answer, fine. You don't have to take it.

You know, I have seen things that happen with teenage sex. I have seen what unwanted teen pregnancies do. I have seen men bully girls into sex (men meaning over 18, girls meaning 16 and under). I am planning on educating my children there's nothing wrong with going against the grain and there's certainly nothing wrong with not having sex (despite Soul's earlier claim that it was unhealthy). Fine, they may end up only wearing clothes from one particular shop or whatever, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to at least attempt to show them another way of life. I would love my son to be individual, respectful and a gentleman, but if that doesn't happen I won't love him any less or be disappointed - after all, he's an individual so has as much right to live up to my expectations as to live up to different ones.

My mum was open with me too, we really don't have a great relationship. Talking about sex doesn't ensure our children will tell us the truth either. My experiences come from real life as although I don't have a teenager yet, I do remember my teenage years and various problems arising from underage sex/teen sex which probably has made me very jaded towards it, but that doesn't mean I'm not allowed that opinion.