Nearly 60% of parents do not think sex education should be taught to young children in school, according to a new survey.

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The most common reason given by the 1,700 parents surveyed was that it’s "inappropriate to teach children about sex", followed by "it should be the parent's choice to teach their own child".

Nearly half of the parents surveyed said youngsters should be at least 13 before having sex lessons.

The survey also asked parents how they reacted when asked about sex by their children.

The most popular response was that parents "felt embarrassed" (38%), followed by "didn't know what to say" (32%) - although 31% of parents said they "explained in full everything they asked about".

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“This is a sensitive subject and parents have their own way to approach it and want to control what their children know, even more so at a young age,” says Andy Barr from babychild.org.uk, which carried out the poll.

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