# In general, is it ok to let children watch animals mate? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 12, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604 "2016-05-12T13:51:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/21 "2016-05-12T18:07:07Z")
> [@Me\_Billy](#): > > I thought the same way when I was a kid. I couldn’t understand why my dad paid to fill his car with water at the gas station when he could use the garden hose at home for free! > > So I helped him and filled his car with water at home… I was in big trouble when we went for a drive and the car died. He used locking gas caps after that. Are you ME? Let’s compare notes. I was four at the time, so it would have been the summer of 1960. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/22 "2016-05-12T18:43:39Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > I turned out okay. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/23 "2016-05-12T19:24:42Z")
I almost forgot; one time at the zoo, my wife and I turned a corner and there, in an outdoor pen before God and all creation, the giant tortoises were mating. There were plenty of kids watching, but frankly it just sort of looked like a car accident with two little old-man [heads](http://img04.deviantart.net/cbd0/i/2008/221/c/9/giant_tortoise_40d0017052_by_cristian_m.jpg) sticking out. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/24 "2016-05-12T20:13:30Z")
Eh, growing up countryside We could look out over the pasture next door and watch how little chicks and calves and colts and puppies got made. Didn’t seem to faze most of us. > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I had a dyslexic moment and initially reversed “children” and “animals” when I read the thread title. :eek: OTOH I suppose the animals totally don’t give a hoot about seeing that… ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/25 "2016-05-12T20:28:21Z")
My wife was at the zoo when she was . . . 6? 7? and asked her little sister if she knew how to tell a boy elephant from a girl elephant. As her parents tried to think of what to say or do and what was going to come next she said, “Boy elephants have tusks.” /hijack ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/26 "2016-05-12T20:40:59Z")
Give those poor animals some privacy. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/27 "2016-05-12T21:13:22Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I had a dyslexic moment and initially reversed “children” and “animals” when I read the thread title. :eek: That’s better than my temporary double take, thinking that the title said, “is it ok to let children **and** animals mate?” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/28 "2016-05-12T21:18:27Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > My wife was at the zoo when she was . . . 6? 7? and asked her little sister if she knew how to tell a boy elephant from a girl elephant. As her parents tried to think of what to say or do and what was going to come next she said, “Boy elephants have tusks.” I believe that is true for Asian elephants, although I’ve seen 4" long vestigial tusks from an Asian at the Little Rock zoo. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/29 "2016-05-12T21:22:09Z")
Why the age limit in the OP? The issue isn’t age or anything so much as the culture the child is raised in. Your typical kid raised on a farm with animals around wouldn’t get weird about it at all, whether 4 or 14. At the opposite end are kids raised in a very repressed environment with a lot of anti-sex agitprop thrown at them. The first time they see animals being animals, they could freak out a bit. Where the line between the two cases (if there is a definable line) is the issue. But it’s probably going to be fairly close to the repressed environment side of things. ---
**Author:** ![mashnut1171](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@mashnut1171](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mashnut1171)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/30 "2016-05-12T21:23:38Z")
Animals will be animals, and kids will be kids. If they have questions, you will know. The funniest thing I remember seeing about that age was a goat and dog going at it. All I could do was just laugh and shake my head. Back when most people still lived outside of the big cities, kids seeing animals mating was common. Still is in those areas today. Why even ask… ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/31 "2016-05-12T21:51:36Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > At the opposite end are kids raised in a very repressed environment with a lot of anti-sex agitprop thrown at them. The first time they see animals being animals, they could freak out a bit. **bobkitty** ’s story about the church group and the volunteer coordinator and the pastor seems to confirm this. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/32 "2016-05-12T21:54:34Z")
My friend posted [this article](http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/23/sex-education-julia-sweeney) on Facebook this week, which cracked me up. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/33 "2016-05-13T00:41:30Z")
For me the bigger negative message was the “DON’T WATCH THAT! THAT’S DIRTY/DISGUSTING!” that followed my stumbling upon such a scene. Pretty sure I would have done a lot better with an age-appropriate explanation in a neutral tone of voice. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/34 "2016-05-13T00:44:57Z")
> [@mashnut1171](#): > > Animals will be animals, and kids will be kids. If they have questions, you will know. The funniest thing I remember seeing about that age was a goat and dog going at it. All I could do was just laugh and shake my head. Back when most people still lived outside of the big cities, kids seeing animals mating was common. Still is in those areas today. Why even ask… Had the dog joined the Straight Dope? Did you see the squid? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/35 "2016-05-13T02:17:52Z")
Consider that up until about 100 years ago, almost everyone grew up on a farm and certainly saw plenty of animals do it. Did our great-grandparents end up really messed up sexually because they went out to the barn one day after school and saw Joe the bull making furious love to Bessie the cow? ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/36 "2016-05-13T02:26:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Eh, growing up countryside We could look out over the pasture next door and watch how little chicks and calves and colts and puppies got made. Didn’t seem to faze most of us. Yup. I knew all about the birds n bees long before we had sex ed class. Why would anyone think keeping kids ignorant is a good idea? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/37 "2016-05-13T02:28:25Z")
I recall a joke where Billy took the family cow over to Sally’s house to be serviced by the bull. Billy was sweet on Sally. They sat on the fence and watched. Billy tactfully said, “I wish I was doing that.” Sally equally tactfully replied, “Why not, Billy? It’s your cow.” ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/38 "2016-05-13T02:52:39Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > At 10yo, I was watching humans mate in R rated movies. Parents never saw fit to censor what I watched. I turned out okay. Yes, but did you have a girlfriend? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/39 "2016-05-13T12:12:40Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I recall a joke where Billy took the family cow over to Sally’s house to be serviced by the bull. > Billy was sweet on Sally. > They sat on the fence and watched. > Billy tactfully said, “I wish I was doing that.” > Sally equally tactfully replied, “Why not, Billy? It’s your cow.” I recall a different version: Billy and Sally were looking out over the pasture when a bull walked over and banged six cows in a row. Sally turned to Billy and said “why can’t you do that?” Billy replied, “we could, if we go to change cows every time.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604/40 "2016-05-13T12:16:40Z")
An old bull and a young bull stood on a hill overlooking a pasture. “Hey,” says the young bull, when don’t we run down there and bang a couple of those cows?" “Why don’t we walk down there,” asks the old bull, “and bang all of them?” But we digress. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-general-is-it-ok-to-let-children-watch-animals-mate/754604.md?page=3)