to think that it's no bloody wonder so many kids are ill informed about sex?

[notanumber]

So, yesterday we went to the zoo.

The otters were lying in a big heap in their inside section, so you had to peer through the window to see them. Two of the otters were mating.

People kept coming up to look in then giggling and making unoriginal amusing comments *

But I was really baffled by the sheer numbers of people who swiftly ushered their children away saying, "Oh, you don't want to see that" or avoiding responding to questions from their children about what the otters were doing with nonsense such as, "Never you mind" or "They were playing piggy back".

I mean, why? Why not just say, "They are mating. That's what they do to make babies". It was otters mating, not Debbie Does Dallas.

God in heaven, is it any wonder that we have such a reputation for being sexually supressed and uptight in this country if we can't handle our children seeing animals mate and give them no information about it or outright lie to them?

*To be fair, it probably was funny and I might have had a bit of a sense of humour failure about it as am very pregnant and have not seen any action for quite some time and am probably jealous of the otters. [pathetic emoticon]

"It was otters mating, not Debbie Does Dallas." PMSL

How many times have you seen Debbie Does Dallas then?

I thought seeing animals mating was the traditional way to find out about sex.
But then I did grow up into the country.

ROFL!! That's a fantastic quote!

"It was otters mating, not Debbie Does Dallas"

I just spat tea all over myself. Fantastic quote... Quote of the week! Quote of the week!

But yes, I agree with you

Brilliant - you have cheered me up as having a crap night.

YANBU. My Mil has ducks and chickens. Last summer both DSs came running up shouting that one duck was trying to kill the other one because it was sitting on it and the other one wasn't moving. I explained that they were making babies and they just said "Oh" and walked off!

Neither of them has asked where babies come from yet (although they've asked how they get out!) I'm sure they're waiting until we're in the queue at the supermarket for that question.

That is, I thought, the whole blooming point of pets. That and death. I mean learning about death. Which is to say, learning about the major things in life through your pets/animals. So I agree with you. People are damned weird sometimes.

When I was a child I thought people mated like cats do because I saw our cat at it. I was quite worried for a while....

quote of the week!

yep, people are scared. is it sweden who has the lowest teen pregnancy rate and they teach kids about relationships from age 5, and contraception much earlier than we do?

and we have the highest pregnancy rate and mumsnetters up in arms over that cartoon sex ed video! would they prefer their kids looking up REAL porn to learn about it?

and duchesse, this is why i think every family should have a pet or some exposure to animals. you learn about life, death, obedience, mating, how to relate to animals in the future....so many good learning tools!
[and a cute puppy or lovely soft old dog]

Might I gently suggest that neither spiders nor mantises are the best pets to use as sex educational aids? Unless you want your DC to try to eat their partners...

That is definitely quote of the week - fantastic

Hilarious quote re Debbie Does Dallas! Has anyone actually seen that, then? (very naive emoticon)

When I was a small child at school, I used to hang around the farm a lot (school had its own mini-farm for eggs, meat and stuff as well as riding stables). My teacher thought it was fabulous that I was taking such an interest in the animals, until Mr Farmer (am pretty sure that wasn't his real name but it was what we all called him except when he drove the minibus when he was Mr Farmer-Driver!) called her up to say that I was taking an unhealthy interest in watching the livestock rutting.

YANBU.

A child in my school has just been told that her aunt (who she lives with) is pregnant because "she was messing around with a boy and the boy touched her belly button". The child is 7 for heavens sake. What a ridiculous and potentially damaging thing to tell her.

Brilliant littlefish. I must make sure that dh doesn't ever touch my bellybutton again.
OP, YANBVU, but horses for courses. When my dd saw dogs mating she asked me what they were doing, I generally turn the question round (mainly to establish how much she knows). I aksed her what she thought they were doing. She said horseriding, I said OK. She then asked me why the bottom one was grinning. I asked her why she thought it was grinning, she said it was enjoying itself. She was about 2.6 then so it would have been a bit difficult to take in at that age.

We went to a local mini zoo thingy with dd recently and some tortoises were mating (seriously, who knew they could move that fast?). Only, the one on top kept falling off and landing on his back and the other one had to keep flipping him back over again.

DD was fascinated. But yes, I noticed this phenomenon. "Quick Algy, over there, look a pig, come on, no no, the tortoises aren't doing anything, come on, let's go and look at some pigs".

Who wants to look at pigs when the tortoises are flipping each other?

Mmmmm... Otter porn...

Tarka Does Taunton!

We have ponies, we wanted a foal, kids (about 6 &9) watched ponies making a foal. What's the problem. Their heads didn't explode, they aren't scarred for life, it's natural!
It did lead to some akward questions, 'mum, when you and dad have sex do you do it like that?' 'not quite dear, mummy isn't usually tied to the fence!'
Also Dd did fill in the blanks and tell her slightly younger friend how it's done! (suprisingly accurately according to her rather annoyed mother!) but I'd rather my kids learned the truth than a load of crap from well meaning friends or relatives!

I can't imagine many people wanted to launch into the birds and the bees conversation in the middle of a crowded zoo!

I think you are right OP, about being matter of fact about "mating". I do think oldandgreynow has a point - the parents in question might not have wanted to have the conversation in front of other families in case they were judgy about it.

I do remember the audible sounds of breaths being bated when my DSs asked what the condom machine was in a public loo. I took it as a great opportunity to raise the idea of sex as recreation rather than just pro-creation, but at the same time I didn't really want everyone around to hear, so I took the DCs outside

I agree entirely. I know far too many people who have a really dodgy attitude to sex (having unprotected sex on a first date because apparently the bloke didn't "look" dodgy is a good example"