Government report: 'Use steamy TV soap scenes to talk to your kids about sex'

A Government report yesterday said parents share the blame for soaring teenage pregnancy rates because so few talk to their children about the facts of life.

It said parents feel happier talking about the threat of drugs and gang culture than instigating discussions about contraception and sexually-transmitted diseases.

Plot complication: A report commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families suggested using raunchy scenes in popular soaps such as Emmerdale as an ice-breaker to talk about sex and relationships

The report, commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, urged parents to make sex and relationships part of everyday conversation.

It said they should look for possible discussion topics on TV, such as Ian Beale on EastEnders confronting his daughter Lucy about her boyfriend, only for her uncle to find her planning to have sex.

Pregnant Hollyoaks character Amy Barnes, 15, could help parents discuss the realities of having a baby at a young age.

The report, by teen agony aunt Anita Naik, said: 'Parents should feed off the everyday and broach conversations about sex and sexual education as part of wider discussions. This provides a springboard for parents to communicate their values as well as helping teens challenge their own beliefs.'

The report warned that the breakdown of conversation in the home had contributed to teenage pregnancy rates because it left youngsters vulnerable to influences from peers and the media.

Children who had talked to their parents about sex and relationships went on to forge better relationships, but 55 per cent of parents held back because of embarrassment, the report said.

Children were most receptive between the ages of 11 and 14, after which it may be too late to start.

Part of the problem was the growing influence of technology on children, creating a generation gap between them and their parents.

Meanwhile, attitudes to sex have changed 'dramatically', it said.

But Norman Wells, of the Family Education Trust, said: 'Parents need to control children's exposure to sexual material in magazines and on television, not encourage it.

'Parents will do far more by being good role models than going out of their way to initiate conversations about sexual intimacy that children don't need to know about.'