to be alarmed that dd1 tells me they did a practical demonstration of how STIs are spread at school today.......

[Northernlurkerisbehindyouboo]

Seriously I was like this for a moment till she explained.

It was actually really clever. They all had to walk round the room, each holding a test tube. Test tube contained some white fluid . Two test tubes had been spiked with another invisible substance (representing the STI). Every time the music stopped they had to share fluids with somebody . Some people had stoppered test tubes so they couldn't share fluids. At the end (after three 'exchanges') they used some indicator something and revealed that the 2 infected tubes had infected 12 others. In total flap of misapplied anxiety I asked dd1 'which group were you in'
'Oh, I wasn't infected' she replied
'Jolly well done darling' sayeth I 'Is that because you had a stopper in'?

They do NOT tell you about this sort of thing at antenatal classes.........

Dh came home, we told him all about it. He played it cool but I saw a hint of panic in his eye. When I suggested gaffa taping her in to her room until she's 27 he agreed enthusiastically

That is damned impressive OP, at my DD's school the students are not taught about STIs or contraception.

My PSE teacher ripped the safe sex section out of the book and told us "free lesson" :( Dreadful really and if it happened now I would demand they teach the lesson properly but as a sixteen year old I wasn't that savvy.

If you wanted to do it with younger children, it could be a cold or a sickness bug they are spreading.

I've also done a similar thing but giving each child a piece of paper, all pink apart from one white sheet. Everyone tears his paper in half, then swaps one half with someone else. Tear in halves again, then swap one, and again. Then ask who has any white paper, and explain that's a cold virus/tummy bug that they've passed round. It shows how easy it is for one infected person not sneezing into a tissue or washing their hands etc.

27, oh no surely it's at least 30!

We're very liberal Upper. We'll settle for 27.

Mwaaahhh haaaaahhh I do that lesson as well. I wonder how many of the kids I have taught it have similarly terrorised their parents!
I have used it in an STI lesson, and in a lesson in infection spread.
It does work really well!!! It's starch solution in the "infected" tube

Yes we do this lesson as well - the students love it.

Hmmm - I remember having this lesson at school. Didn't stop me and my pals taking loads of risks throughout our teenage years, though!

i went to a catholic school i left in 1990 we were nt really taught about sex ed just told the only 100%form of contraception was that little word no !there were several girls in my year pregnant before they left or just after unsurprisingly!

I do a similar lesson with hand cream and glitter to show young children how germs spread if they don't wash their hands. It's very messy but great fun and really sticks in the kids memories

Ugh Yuk! I would be appalled if they did that at my DCs school.Idon't agree with normalising the idea of 14 yr olds having lots of sexual partners.

I think the glitter and handcream one is good though (bet the caretaker loves you!!!

"Idon't agree with normalising the idea of 14 yr olds having lots of sexual partners"

You are spectacularly missing the point.. That 14yr old could have sex with just one person, but if that person has been having casual unprotected sex, then she is just as much at risk of catching an STI if she doesnt ensure that her one and only partner uses a condom.

Exactly, squeakytoy. Unless two virgins get together and stay together forever, always faithful, then there's a risk of STIs.

That 14yr old could have sex with just one person, but if that person has been having casual unprotected sex, then she is just as much at risk of catching an STI if she doesnt ensure that her one and only partner uses a condom.

Well said squeaky.

I would also say that it isnt a case of normalising either. From personal experience and that of my friends too, we all probably had more sexual partners in our teens than in our twenties and beyond, simply because relationships tend to be much shorter and dramatic at that age.. and it is imperative that any teen who is about to embark on a sex life is as aware as possible of the dangers of STI's. Burying heads in the sand is no protection.

On the matter of sex education my year 5 son, about to have the topic taught to him for the first time, turned to me and said, with a hint of apprehension: "I don't think Miss will make us actually do it - do you?"

How I managed to reassure him without crying with laughter I will never know!