SDG said:>So rather than give your sons and daughters a chance to make you proud, you set them up to fail, so your not dissapointed.>

Au contraire........do YOU have teenagers YET?
Let's have this discussion, say....when they're 16 or 18......until then, you're just blowing smoke.

>Telling them to go ahead and indulge themselves is entirely a different matter.

Of course it is, but young adults need to make their own choices WITH your support, and any arising consequences. What I have heard so far is that you all are judging me and making snide remarks while none of you have been through it yet.

> at what age do you encourage their sex lives. 16? 14? 12? 8?

There is no right "age".......and I would hope they would lose their virginity to someone they loved, and that loved them back. And although you have to be very careful with the girls, it's the boys who are PUSHY. There's a lot of peer pressure for them to get their first conquest. Maybe it will be your young, naiive and vulnerable daughter.

>Why is it that when I say my kid is too young at 16, that makes me Fred Flintstone?

Not necessarily. But do you have a kid age sixteen?

>Why can't I draw it at 16 or 18 where I choose for my child without the government cramming it down their throats earlier? Don't they get enough of that from tv anyway?

Precisely! The days of "Leave it to Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" are gone.
Have you ever watched MTV's "Spring Break" lately?
It makes my hair stand on end!

I still think sex education in schools is fine, and does it really matter if they get their condoms from you, the teacher, the Health Department or the bathroom in some movie theatre?
I think this service is being provided as an adjunct for education, to those kids whose parents DON'T tell them about the birds and the bees.