THERE is a fascinating talking point on our front page today: when do you introduce children to the concept of death?

Some parents are concerned - shocked even - that their nine and ten year olds in Stanley are receiving a visit from a funeral director as part of their class discussions about death. Five pupils have been withdrawn from the lessons in which photographs of a mortuary have been shown.

Unlike sex education, where there is a regularly fought battle of ideas between moralists and liberals, the debate about death education rarely reaches the headlines.

Yet unlike sex, where you have to be of a certain age to indulge, death is something that can touch any age.

And children as young as four or five are inquisitive about death in a childlike way. It is natural. They want their questions answered, particularly if their questions are inspired by the death of a relative or of a favourite pet. Can parents shy away from such questions?

Indeed, this weekend we've been celebrating how many young children have been itching to get their hands on the latest Harry Potter book even though the pre-publicity for that book has revolved around which one of the principal characters comes to an untimely end. So we are actively encouraging our nine and ten year olds to read about death, albeit in a magical setting.

Perhaps that is the difference. Harry Potter is magic and fires the imagination of nine year olds; the principal character may come back to life again if a magical potion is applied.

But photos of chapels of rest are very stark and real. Too stark and real, perhaps, if we believe that childhood is an age of innocence that is becoming shorter and shorter as each generation grows up.

After all, there is so much brutality and blood and guts on television even before the nine o'clock watershed, do we really want more unsettling images shown in the classroom?

Just like with sex education, there probably is no definitive answer - but we hope readers will try to come up with one in the Hear All Sides letters column.

And before we leave the subject, we should point out that the headteacher in question, Kay Hemmings, is widely respected by parents at Tanfield Lea Junior. She did inform parents in advance about the nature of the lessons so at least they had the choice about whether their children should attend.