I'm a mix of you and your husband.

US born and raised, with parents who never had the talk with me nor discussed the dangers of alcohol. My mom (my dad had already died) didn't want my live-in girlfriend (who became my 2nd wife) to sleep in the same bedroom with me - even though I was nearly 40 and a divorced father.

How repressed can you be? Yes.

Our son grew up in a very Dutch-like environment. Maybe because I was living 1/2 time in the Netherlands during the time girls got interesting for him, maybe just because I couldn't stand my puritanical upbringing and my wife's upbringing in Czechia was like your husband's in the Netherlands.

In any case, our (she's actually his step-mom but was more of a mom to him than his actual mom ever was) son was able to learn about alcohol and sex early and at home. When he was ready to bring girls home, we gave them space and made sure there was protection.

A huge advantage to this method that you don't mention in your excellent article is that doing all this with your kids:

1) builds a really great bond of trust between you at an early age; and

2) your kids get over that first stage of learning about sex in relationships and going from non-sexual relationships to sexual relationships while they are still young and there is no societal pressure on them to have long-term relationships.

Our son is now engaged after having sown his oats early (and we think pretty often). He had tons of adult relationship experience at a much earlier age than I did, which has helped him make much better decisions.

Jettisoning the puritanical US mindset is definitely the way to go (IMO).