Parents ‘need to discuss porn with children’

Parents have been urged to talk about sex and pornography with children as young as 10 so their sexual curiosity does not lead them down a dangerous path on the internet.

Child psychotherapist Alberto Pellai said there was a new form of sexual abuse, with children exploring the internet looking for older people willing to keep in touch in a sexual way.

The Italian doctor, who spoke at a major European conference on child abuse and neglect in Dublin yesterday, said educators and parents must become very media savvy and technology aware. He said adults must be capable of providing children with a sex education so that they channel their sexual curiosity and excitement on to a path that was age appropriate.