Next month, Beverley Hughes, Minister of State for Children will be distributing a new booklet aimed at reducing teenage pregnancies through 3000 pharmacies. Entitled, Talking to Your Teenager About Sex and Relationships the guide is part of a package of support launched by ministers encouraging parents to play a role in preventing teenage pregnancy. Yet, as Jack Grimston observes in today's Sunday Times, the government naively believes you can divorce sex from moral education. "Parents should avoid trying to convince their teenage children of the difference between right and wrong when talking to them about sex, a new government leaflet is to advise. Instead, any discussion of values should be kept “light” to encourage teenagers to form their own views, according to the brochure, which one critic has called “amoral”.
No - not "amoral" Jack, immoral - indeed criminally negligent would be more accurate. Britain already has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the world. And the government thinks it can reduce it by divorcing sex from morality? The Daily Telegraph describes this as a national shame.
Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls lays the blame on cheap alcohol. Maybe there is a correlation. Britain already has the record for teenage cannabis abuse in Europe.
Simon Calvert, deputy director of the Christian Institute, attacked the new leaflet, saying: “The idea that the government is telling families not to pass on their values is outrageous.
“Preserving children’s innocence is a worthy goal. We would like to see more of that kind of language rather than this amoral approach where parents are encouraged to present their children with a smorgasbord of sexual activities and leave them to make up their own minds.”
Here are some useful articles if you want to pursue the subject:
The sex lives of Christian teens
The secret of sexual satisfaction, self fulfilment and a strong society
