[RachelleDrew]

My husband and I discussed this not too long ago, about when certain topics were appropriate for their age.

Sex is a toughie, and I hate to be blunt but at ten my husband was already masturbating. Two years later, his parents gave him "the talk" about sexual purity. Twelve was two years too late. This is a kid who grew up in an LDS home and had never seen sex on tv or had heard it discussed in his home. He didn't even know that what he was doing was masturbation because he had so little exposure to sexuality.

Moral of the story? If you don't talk to your kid about sex someone else will. Or they will figure it out on their own. Does either one of those situations sound good?

Every kid will develop at a different pace maturity wise and sexually. Some kids may need to get the birds and the bees talk at six, others perhaps when they are ten. The key (from what I can tell) is to keep a open dialogue and give your kids a reason to trust you with delicate information. Then they can feel comfortable asking you questions, and giving you an idea of where to go from there.

You can be frank with your kids without being nasty. Kids who don't have access to accurate information about sex get themselves in a lot of trouble.