<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.

No, I have a 2 year old girl and -8 month old boy or girl.

However I don't plan on starting their education when they are teenagers. My little girl is learning how to make smart choices now, even though she is only 27 months old. Right now she is learning how to go potty in the toilet rather than in her underwear. An appropriate lesson at an appropriate age, but learning how to make decisions started even earlier.

Just because I'm not raising a teenager now, doesn't mean I am unqualified to speak or "blowing smoke". I was one about 10 years ago and so was my wife.

The fact is I AM raising a teenager, she just won't be one for another 10 years. There are amazing corralaries to how a teenager and 2 year old act. Both are gaining their independence from their parents and learning that all choices have qonsequences. As a 2 year old she can learn similar lessons with appropriate lessons, that she will later be glad she learned when the big decisions come.

Another lesson, which we must enforce on other adults around her is that she does not "sell" hugs and kisses for candy. Many adults tell kids that they will give the kid a piece of candy for a kiss or a hug. What is this teaching the kid? and more importantly how will this lesson apply when they become teenagers?

So please keep the "blowing smoke" comment to yourself. I am raising a kid who will become a teenager, so what I say does apply.

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.

Or maybe by then my daughter won't be so naiieve as to think sex at any age is ok. Nor is it ok for any boy to do anything which applies to her body, no matter how many necklaces he buys her.

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!

No I haven't watched MTV since I was a teenager, I can only imagine. However watching current TV shows teaches the exact opposite of the values I wish my kid to learn. Which is why parenting must start much earlier.

Sex education in schools is OK. It is when schools start normalizing sexual relationships among teenagers is where I have a problem. When my kids get sex education in school I will be sure to check out the curriculum as well as talk to the teacher before they attend the class. Hopefully my kids will also be able to sort any trash from the education as they go.

-Steve G.