here in South Africa sex ed starts really early, although there is still a drive to implement a formalised program for teaching it as it is not taught in all schools.
But then again we have a rather scarily high level of early sexually active kids (in 2009 it was reported that we had at least 109 grade 3 girls pregnant) and way too much abuse / rape in our country - esp at the grass roots level.
Our age of consent for sex is 16, but - children aged 12 and older do not need a parent's consent to obtain birth control or an abortion.
There is a huge drive to have as part of the national curriculum within the life skills portion of learning lessons on HIV/AIDS and sex and sexuality education - starting from the age of 7/8.
So this is my round about way of saying that even though my boys are not in school, we speak about it openly from when they ask questions. Aiden asked every time I was pregnant (he was less than 2 years and then again when he was 3, nearly 4 years of age).
Last year when he was 6 I got the book "It's not the stork". I read it first and it helped me figure out how to say what to him. Then we read the book together and he asked questions.
He was more worried about the Genetics than the sex bit and it sparked an entire 12 week genetics self-study period. lol
Now he speaks about it factually and occasionally asks questions that let me know he is thinking about it a lot more often than I thought he would. He has also corrected some of Nathan's thinking (Nathan is 5) and misconceptions.
I am all in favour of it being a normal, gradual learning process as they ask questions and then ensuring they know about their bodily changes and the opposite sex before 8th grade. And then to include information on your rights and responsibilities in relation to that.
