At what age to do you give your child "the talk" about the birds and the bees?

[arms1977]

This is a very tough question to answer. Every child is different. Girls these days look 18 when they are 12, boys look 12 when they are 18. Our children are growing up entirely too fast if you ask me. I had "the talk" with my child when he was 7. The only reason I did was because he was asking too many questions and I knew he was hearing things at school. i did not go into full detail, but I told him enough to gross him out. We have since had several more discussions and he completely understands everything now. I encourage him to talk to me openly about anything, so I hope that before he decides to have sex for the first time he will come to me. I will not judge him, but I certainly want to make sure he has protection. Kids these days are hearing entirely too much false information at school, so I say when your child starts asking too many questions is when you should have "the talk" with them.

[lawhun]

I think it depends on the child . My daughter is 15 and I talked 2 her around 11 .

[andrespinilla]

13 years old

[jylianhunt]

i think that there is never too young of a age, kids now are having sex before the reeach puberty. it is better to have them know so even if they arent they have the knowleadge

[stokeman455]

      I think the time might be right when they start acting giddie around one another! 

[bschumacher]

The earliest should be 8; the latest should be 10.

[AmyTrivitt]

I told my daughter at seven. I think this conversation should be when the parent feels the child is old enough to understand.

[gadzuux]

You gear up to it... I always keep open communication between my daughters and myself. I was lucky (I guess) only needed to deal with that subject when it arose. They are 17 and 20 now, and are very wise about their relationships. My oldest daughter seems to be the one all her friends come to for advise. I think I was very very luck to have understanding children, cause I pretty much winged it. My only advice would be to be active in their lives and be the parent, NOT the friend. They usually have enough friends to cause problems. They need a parent to give the answers.

[stacers12]

I think it should be an ongoing conversation... as soon as they started asking questions I have been giving my boys age appropriate answers.  As soon as they start school they start hearing things so I want to make sure that they have correct information.  I would ABSOLUTELY talk to your daughters well before the "tween" years - I was boy crazy (and experimenting) by 12 - probably cuz my mom NEVER talked about sex with me... 

[queenofnines]

What age is too young?  How much info you you give them?  Are we all giving our kids condoms and birth control?  What's up parents?

I'm not a parent, but if I ever am, I don't think any age is "too young"...but we all know there is certainly an age that is "too late".  I would say as soon as they start asking, even if that is 3 or 4, they deserve a basic but *real* explanation (no cutesy stuff like "daddy watered my garden with his hose").  I would start talking about it plainly and simply when they are very young, adding more detailed and necessary info - like about birth control - by the time they are tweens.  They would get the full deal (good and bad) by the time they are in middle school.  And they would certainly be put on birth control if they chose to engage in anything and would be aware of all of the physical and emotional implications of sex by the time they started having it.

[JHNSONLEEANN]

When they reach puberty, or when they start to ask you questions.

[Angelbot]

ha oh this topic brings back memories of my mother having "the talk" (or trying to have it) with me! i think i was around 9-10.. and my mom tried to give me the basics and got all embarassed and was like here.. heres a book... read it and if you got questions you can ask me... and left after about 5 min. Thank goodness i already understood all about it from school when they had sex ed! ha ha!

[sigmapi1501]

"daddy watered my garden with his hose"

That's hot

[tantricia44]

Give the "talk," from the cradle.