Our story about the teen girl who called the cops on her mom for having loud sex stirred up some passion among TODAY Moms readers.

Readers were split on whether the teen overreacted (she wanted police to take her to a local shelter; in the end she stayed at home), but a good many could relate to the cringe-worthy predicament. More than 30,000 people voted in our poll asking whether their kids have ever walked in on them during sex: 45 percent said yes.

Regardless of how you voted, most agreed on one fact: getting busted by the kids while getting busy in the sack is downright EMBARRASSING.

We asked our Facebook readers to share their best/worst “caught in the act” anecdotes, and tell us how they dealt with the aftermath.

Some parents simply let their kids come to their own conclusions.

Kristen Ferguson Tellier writes:

My 10-yr-old heard the headboard hit the wall and she asked us the next day if we were doing construction in our room last night? LOL!

Tara Kennedy-Kline adds:

I was leaving on a business trip recently and my husband and I had just finished our "goodbyes." Still in the afterglow, my 7-year-old jumps up from beside the bed and yells "BOO...hahhahahahhahaha! You guys were kissin'!" Yeah...we were kissin'...

Marissa Casper says she and her husband were advised pre-marriage to invest in a lock or move the dresser over to the door.

Our kids are still in their cribs so all we get is "mommy!?!?? (Yelling) Are you o.k.?" 

Ann Marie Mason Morrison says:

We tried to time it one Sat morning before they were up. At breakfast, the 6-yr-old yells "I saw Daddy's hairy butt!" My son says "Why were you doing that to Mommy?" We were sooo busted!

Other parents get creative with their explanations.

Jacqueline Simkaitis says her oldest child couldn’t sleep one night and walked into mom and dad’s bedroom. The next day he asked: Why was daddy laying on mommy?

Says Simkaitis:

We just looked at each other in horror!! And said Mommy was really cold – lol -- he was 4 at the time. We bought a lock and it has not happened again.

Jill Suddendorff writes:

In the middle of all the action we heard a tiny voice from our 4-year-old son saying "Whatcha doin'?" I was too freaked out to answer but my quick-thinking husband blurted out "We're just wrestling, now go back to bed." Crisis averted???? Not so much. His response: "Wrestling?? I wanna wrestle!!!" -- and he proceeded to jump on top of us. Oh yeah, that's how that fiasco went down. Thank GOD we were covered up!

Many readers believe responding with honesty is the best policy.

Rebekah Nares Johnsonn writes:

With a 20-, 19- and a 15-yr-old... yeah it has happened. Now the running joke in the house when my husband and I may share a playful kiss or two, maybe even three..."get a room you two" :) Our kids understand this is a normal and healthy part of marriage. Of course, they may not always enjoy our displays of affection, but at least they know we love each other.

And sometimes mortifying moments can lead to a larger revelation. LaVon Shearer Ihrig says the embarrassment factor of her kids walking in on her and her husband -- twice -- nearly ruined their sex life for a while. She got so self-conscious about making noise that it actually put a strain on her marriage. Something had to give. She writes:

I finally had to get to the place where I realized that SEX is a healthy part to our relationship and NOTHING I should be embarrassed about. Now, this does not mean that my husband and I are making the house our sexual romping grounds, but I did make a decision that I was no longer going to wait until my kids are out of the house before I finally get to enjoy sex with the man that I have committed my life to.

So LaVon had a frank talk with her teenage daughter. Awkward? You bet. But worth it, she says:

In a nutshell I told my daughter, "Sex is natural and important in our marriage. I am sorry you sometimes can hear us, the bed squeaks, or that it may make you uncomfortable, but we will not apologize for the fact that your parents love each other. We will do what we can... but sometimes you may hear us. Turn on your radio, leave your room, plug in your earphones, whatever, but I can not and WILL NOT end my sexual relationship just because you may hear us on occasion."

That's a different kind of "sex talk" -- and a bold move by LaVon! She says it paid off, which is why she wanted to share her story with other moms:

The romance has come back in my marraige and the guilt and embarrassment that plagued me has decreased quite a bit. Anyways, long story, but worth sharing just in case there is another woman out there who is "suffering" through the same thing. Life is too short to wait until your children are out of the house to finally enjoy sex with your husband!!!!!

Amen, sister. Thanks for sharing your story. Maybe you'll inspire more moms to get busy with their husbands?

More TODAY Moms stories:  
Are tattoos a parenting 'do' or 'don't'?
Have you lied to your kids today?
What's your deepest, darkest Mom confession?

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What's your most embarrassing "caught in the act" story? Whatever it is, one Florida mom can probably top it.

A 15-year-old girl called 911 to report she could hear her mom having sex, according to a police report obtained by The Smoking Gun. The website reports:

The girl, 15, told an officer that she wanted to go to a local shelter “because she heard her mother having sex” and “felt disrespected” by her 35-year-old parent’s actions. The teen acknowledged that “there was no form of abuse or neglect in the house.”

The mother explained to police that she had invited her boyfriend over and “sometime during the visit, her daughter heard them having sex and became upset.” The woman added that “their bedrooms are next to each other and she didn’t intend to wake her daughter up.”

Though it may have been a crime of passion, no one was arrested. The daughter eventually decided that she'd rather live at home, despite the cringe-worthy noise, than go to a local teen shelter. One can only imagine the awkward silence around the breakfast table the next morning. 

Parents, have your kids ever walked in on you having sex, or overheard? How did you deal with it?

Oh yes, we went there. More from TODAY Moms:
Should you tattle on a bad babysitter?
Pop rap: New dad freestyles to delivery-room monitor
Star baby: Red-carpet tot cozies up with celebs

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The morning routine of getting the kids up, fed, and ready for school has always merited a little background noise in our house. We (my journalist-husband and I) usually have a morning TV news show on to hear the headlines of the day.

Especially when our kids were younger -- but even sometimes today at ages 12 and 9 -- we'd change the channel when "bad" stories come on: a gruesome murder; an abducted child; a plane crash. No need for their young minds to be rattled by real life, we figure, especially when they've got a math or vocabulary test to focus on that day.

So on those bad-news days, ESPN -- with its rollicking round-ups and replays of the day's sports news -- is our good-news fallback.

Until this week, when the Penn State/Joe Paterno/child sex abuse scandal broke.

Sure, The Ravens barely beat the Steelers in a thrilling Sunday night game, and the Colts are still winless. But all that became “blah-blah-blah” amid the awful details of the alleged abuse that took place in those Penn State football showers, in that coach's basement, and beyond, for all those years.

For anyone, it is news that's difficult to hear. As parents of kids the same ages as those victims, we feel particularly outraged. And confused. How do we explain this to our kids, particularly to our 9-year-old, sports-crazy son?

Our son told me Thursday, "Mom, did you know Joe Paterno got fired?" When I asked him if he knew why, he answered: "Not really."

My initial fumble-of-an-explanation (from the parenting school of "when in doubt, tell them only what they need to know") was that a Penn State assistant coach did something really bad to a young boy and when Paterno found out about it, he didn't do enough to help the boy or turn the coach in to the police. For the moment, that was enough for my son. He didn't ask for more details.

But is "something really bad" an adequate explanation for – let’s just say it – raping a boy? No, it’s not. And frankly, we as parents – as the New York Times' Maureen Dowd recently described – are still working up the nerve to have “the conversation” about what really happened.

Dr. Robi Ludwig, a psychotherapist and TODAY contributor, says that no matter how ugly or upsetting the topic at hand is, parents shouldn’t be afraid of any conversation with a child.  

She suggests a good way to start, especially with younger kids, is by asking explanatory questions to find out what they know. “Ask them what they’ve heard on the news and get a sense of how they are interpreting the story,” she says. “They may not feel threatened because they see the news as separate from their own lives.”

In the Penn State case, the issue of sexual abuse may seem tough to talk about, Ludwig admits. But parents do best by addressing it head on, she says. Some of her tips include:

Be matter of fact. Tell your kids what the coach did, what he shouldn’t have done, and how they should handle it if it ever happened to them. You can say, “The coach was touching boys where he shouldn’t have been touching boys. And he was asking to do things with boys’ private parts that no adult should ask a boy or girl to do. So nobody touches your private parts except for you. And if someone asks you, you let someone know or you let me know.”

Don’t create paranoia. Ludwig says it’s important to not present the news in a frightening manner, and reassure them that it’s out of the norm. You can say, “Every coach is not a pedophile. There are people like that out there. But hopefully you’ll never come in contact with them.”

Be straight with kids.  You ultimately help kids by having a conversation, because that in itself creates an environment of safety, Ludwig says. “When there’s no conversation, it encourages kids to come up with their own fantasies and nightmares.” Talk about it and it becomes a safer topic. And ultimately, Ludwig says, you are expanding what your kids can talk about with you.”

When I told Ludwig I nixed ESPN this week to protect my son from the Penn State scandal, she said it’s not necessary to turn the TV off.

 “The news becomes a wonderful springboard for a conversation, if you use it correctly,” Ludwig says.

Have you had the conversation with your kids about the Penn State scandal? How did you handle it?

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When you and your partner want some romantic "alone time," how do you get privacy in a house full of kids? Fire up their favorite DVD? Shoo them outside to play and lock the door?

Or, you could try the tactic favored by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt: Honesty.

Chris Pizzello / AP file

Wonder what she's smiling about?

"There are no secrets at our house," the 47-year-old actor tells USA Weekend. "We tell the kids, 'Mom and Dad are going off to kiss.' They go, 'Eww, gross!' But we demand it."

Hmmm, the line between modeling a healthy, loving relationship and giving your kids TMI can be a thin one sometimes. But hey, if it works for the world's sexiest couple (and their six kids), more power to them.

How about you? Do your kids give you the "eww, gross" reaction when you show affection to your partner? Do you have any tips for keeping the romance alive -- without the benefit of Brangelina's retinue of household staff?

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