Money matters are climbing the list of the talks parents feel they must have with their children: the subjects of debt and saving for the future are now deemed to be more important than educating our offspring on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), racism or religion, research by Engage Mutual Assurance shows.

Debt is the most common financial topic of parental education (64 percent) followed by saving for the future (62 percent). That ranks them fifth and sixth in the top 10 topics for parental “chats”, ahead of racism (58 percent), illness and death (53 percent) and STDs (52 percent). The only “facts of life” considered more important than these money matters in children’s at-home education are drugs and alcohol (78 percent), personal hygiene (74 percent), talking to strangers (73 percent) and the “birds and the bees” (71 percent).

The findings, from a poll of 2,000 people, are encouraging as financial education — for adults as well as children — climbs the political agenda. But they are a worrying reflection of the current environment. Britons’ debt mountain has tripled in the past decade and families are under increasing strain to make ends meet. A string of hikes in the cost of living — petrol, heating, food and transport — has compounded the problem.

Three-quarters of the population voice worry about the impact of the credit crunch on their purse-strings, according to research from BrightHouse Stores. Almost 60 percent are reining in spending on non-essentials, 43 percent are worried they won’t be able to put anything away into savings, others are spending less money on food and socialising, and 9 percent have even cancelled a holiday.

 Against that backdrop — and as recession looms – any advice on managing money should stand the generation of future adults in good stead. Perhaps, then, they will eschew that appetite for cheap credit exhibited by their parents before them.