When to have "the talk" with boys...

[jfoofj]

I just read through a thread about when to have "the talk" with girls and I was wondering how parents of boys handled this talk, and at what age they had it with their sons.

My DS is turning 9 this month, and he knows some basics... that babies come out either through the "birth canal" or via a c-section and that the tampons in the bathroom cabinet are something that ladies use, but we have never had a sex talk with him. We just went to the baby shower of a close friend, who is not married, and my son asked her how she and her boyfriend (they have been together for 8 years, just choose not to marry) are having a baby if they aren't married. She turned bright red and deferred to me, and I told him we would discuss it at another time. He hasn't asked again, and I am just wondering what I will tell him. His pediatrician told me last year to answer what he asks... no more, no less... that kids ask questions at the level they are ready for. I just don't want him to hear misinformation from friends, but I don't want to force a conversation on him that he isn't ready for either.

So.... any advice, input, experiences that I can benefit from here?

 

[mjkacmom]

I'd tell him now, since he asked. When ds was 8, we were watching a show about multiple births, and he asked me how the sperm got to the egg, I told him, and he said "gross," and that was that! When he was 10, I gave him a lot more infomation.