UK parents relaxed about their children trying drink, drugs and sex

Surprisingly, the survey revealed a great difference in opinion when it came to regions too, as only 16% of Irish parents said they’d have a problem with their child smoking cannabis often.

While 98% of mums and dads from the North East were completely against their kids using cannabis and 42% of Londoners said they also weren’t against their children taking drugs, saying that it’s just part of growing up.

“As far as parents are concerned, sex, alcohol and even drugs are no longer no-go areas for their children,” said Frank Furedi, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent.

The study also revealed that 25% of mums and dad said they let their child first try alcohol age 10, while 21% were happy for their kids to start having sex at 13.

Researchers also discovered that parents from London were the least open-minded when it came to homosexuality, with just 52% saying that they’d be comfortable if their child were gay, compared to 79% of parents in East Anglia who would be unfazed by such news

“Families have become surprisingly open minded about allowing their children to experiment and find their own way in life. Parents understand that society has changed and that it is not the end of the world if their teenager experiments with alcohol or has sex.” Frank said.

There was also a clear difference among the sexes, as 17% of dads were happy for their child to drink alcohol from 10-years-old, compared to 6% of mums. While 38% of dads thought drug taking was ok compared to 24% of mums and 76% of mums would be fine with their child being gay compared to just 45% of dads.