'Horrific and disgusting''My son put his hands over his ears' 'It's a family minefield'

JOHN CREEDON, BROADCASTER:"No one ever had the chat with me growing up. There were two defining moments in my sexual evolution. One would have been when I got a hint from Woman's Way of something different about girls. I grew up in a newsagent shop. We learned a lot from the problem pages!

The full-frontal realisation of the facts of life came when a farmer friend asked me to accompany him. We were bringing the cow to dairy. I thought that meant a creamery or something. But what it meant was that they were being brought to the bull. What I witnessed was horrific and I was disgusted!

It wasn’t so much the birds and bees as the bulls and stallions! With my own kids (I have four girls), there was no ‘sit down and explain it’ moment. If they had wanted they could have asked and we’d talk about anything. My girls have a wild sense of humour and I’d be the only one likely to get embarrassed.”

ALAN SHORTT, ACTOR/ COMEDIAN

“The way we found out was that my parents would leave books around the house in strategic areas. They were old-fashioned books about the birds and the bees.

My own eight year old came to me a few months ago and wanted to know how babies were made. I said, ‘Right so, I better tell him’. So I proceeded to tell him until he put his hands over his ears!

Sex was new to us when we were growing up. With all the access kids have to media now, sex is a part of their life. It’s as if nothing really shocks them any more.

Friends were shocked I was so open with my son. I saw a documentary last year looking at the sex education of British and Dutch kids. In Holland, they teach sex education from the age of 10 in national school. Nothing is held back. I believe the more informed they are, then the more in control kids are.

The proper time to have the chat with kids is when they ask for it.”

MARK CAGNEY, TV PRESENTER

“My guess is that we’re not great at telling our children. I found out in school from mates. I never had the birds and the bees conversation. Or maybe I did actually and I think I was in my late teens by that point. It was more of a conversation like, ‘I’m assuming you know all about this’.

I have a 17 year old and it was a conversation his mother and I had at the onset of puberty about how to relay the information. It’s kind of a tricky subject.

If you do it in a very educational or factual manner, then sometimes you end up missing the point. It can come as a bit of shock if you launch into the physical facts.

By the time we got around to telling our son, he knew more about it than we did when we were his age. It is one of the few areas with your kids where they really don’t want to hear you talking about it. They don’t like the idea that parents are still sexually active and therefore don’t want you discussing with them. It’s a family minefield, but it has to be tackled.”