My parents didn't teach me about the birds and the bees either. My dad said it was my mom's responsibility because I was a girl. My mom said she would give me the talk as soon as my dad gave my three brothers the talk. I'm now married with two kids. Still waiting on that talk.

When my son was 4, I was pregnant with my daughter. When he asked questions, we gave generic but truthful answers that were age appropriate. He never asked how the baby got in my tummy (THANK GOD!) but he asked how she was coming out. And that turned into a five minute conversation that went something like this:

Is that baby going to come out of your stomach? Well, some babies come out of their mommy's tummy, but that isn't how i had you and I don't think that will happen with your sister.

So how will she get out of there? I'm going to go to the hospital and the doctor will help her come out.

So, do you have a secret door or something where the baby can come out? At this point in the conversation, I almost wrecked my car because I was laughing so hard.

I'll answer any question that he has truthfully, but I will make sure it is done in an age appropriate manner. I will also be telling him that just because he knows something like this, that doesn't mean he has to share it with the rest of the world because other moms and dads might not be ready for their kids to know that info yet.

I like your strategy, Nichole. I do have one question though. How did you explain it to him after the whole secret door thing? Did you correct him about the secret door, or did you let it slide, as maybe you thought he wasn't old enough for the full story?

When this comes up at our house (and don't think it won't more than once!), we try to give truthful answers, with just as much info as is needed. We started with, "Mommies have a special place that babies come out." That was satisfactory and worked for a while. We deflected the 'How did it get in there?" question a bit by focusing on how the baby grows: "It's like a little seed, it starts out very small and then grows and grows until it is a fully-grown baby and ready to come out of the mommy." Lately, the questions have been more specific about how the baby is fed through the mother (there was a weird misunderstanding about food coming directly through the umbilical cord, like the baby eats a cheeseburger if the mom does, that was a good one :) ). I always go with the not-lying, and trying to share as much information as is appropriate and answers the questions at that time. I refuse to not have "the talk" with my children as appropriate, it does them such a disservice. I think also if you start talking about it early, get those open, truthful lines of communication established, then it won't be awkward to talk about for the parents or the children when the time comes to lay it all out. You always want you children to come to you for honest, reliable information. You know they will go elsewhere if you don't.

I think it must be possible to answer honestly while still being appropriate. At least I hope so. I remember being genuinely horrified when I found out how it works.

I am going to have my kids call Sarah Lacey. Problem solved.

My wife and I originally planned on not sharing nature's "naughty secret" to our thirteen children until they reached adult age but God had a different plan. After my 3rd born, Derrick, walked in on my wife and I exploring eachother's reproductive organs we were forced to give him a reasonable explination. I first explained to him that the aggressive behavior that me and my wife enjoy so much in the bedroom wasn't me diliberatly abusing my wife. I then compared love making to a recess peanut butter cup (which he loves, almost as much as I enjoy sexy time with the wife) I explained that my penis was like the creamy peanut butter inserting itself into my wifes delicious chocolate. This seemed to make more sense to him. The following day we were lucky enough to witness little Derrick trying out the new moves he learned on our youngest daughter Jeniveve. We then explained to her that women are not allowed to cry out in pain in the bedroom and that is why we put a gag in mommy's mouth. My children are now the talk of the neighborhood and teaching all their friends and cousins a little naughty play!