A Milwaukee, Wisconsin television station’s investigative report says kids are being exposed to sex education in unintended places, including bookstores. According to the broadcast report, “sexually graphic” books were found very close to children’s sections in area bookstores.

Our cameras caught some kids doing more than just walking by the books. We spotted a boy and a girl in their mid teens lingering in the self help sex book section at the Barnes & Noble at Mayfair Mall. They went thru several different books, many of them with explicit photos of adults in sexual positions. They picked up several different books, all of it just feet from small children.

According to the report, Barnes & Noble’s response to parents’ complaints was the following: “We strongly recommend that they [parents] keep a close watch on their children and keep them away from material they may find offensive.” Borders wrote that stores are told to place potentially objectionable material on higher shelves where they may be out of the sight of youths.

Whose responsibility do you think it is to be sure young kids aren’t exposed to potentially objectionable materials, even in public places? Do you think bookstores need to have a greater role, or is it up to parents to monitor their children?

Dr. David McKenzie, a marriage and sex therapist in Vancouver, Canada and Washington State, provides tips to Fox News about how to talk with children about sex.

DO:

• Allow children to set the pace by answering their questions in an age appropriate manner. Sex education can really start at any time.
• Utilize good literature, such as story books, to read to children at a very early age (as young a four or five years) where human sexuality is explored in very simple, child-like ways

DON’T:

• Close the door to open and honest discussion early on, which happens when parents use “birds and bees” terminology, even though they have the best intentions. Use correct words for each body part, otherwise children will not be as comfortable asking questions about their bodies as they grow up. Concepts can still be simplified and accessible to children while naming body parts by their real name.
• Ignore questions from your child about sex. But do not give more information than the specific information they are asking for, unless necessary to answer the question.
• Miss an opportunity to teach by not answering a child’s questions at all. Every question is an opportunity to teach and, by not answering, children will think parents can’t be approached.

Additional resources for parents (including both some comprehensive and some abstinence-only guides) include Advocates for Youth’s online Sex Ed Center, parenting Web site Kidsgrowth.com, Dr. Spock.com and Notmenow.org.

A Wisconsin woman has been charged with “exposing children to harmful descriptions,” a felony crime that carries a penalty of up to three years in prison, according to Court TV News.

Amy Smalley thought she was being a good parent when she taught her children about sex.

Smalley told her children, ages 11 and 15, about her own sexual experiences, explained how to perform oral sex and even showed them a sex toy she owned.

This is an interesting topic because part of the debate over sex education centers on who should be teaching it: parents or schools. But this case centers around how it’s taught by parents, who are usually assumed to deserve at least some voice in how their kids are educated about sex. What do you think of this prosecution? Do you agree that the parent should be protected by free speech laws, as her lawyer argued?