How old is your child when you start teaching them about sex

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DD (6 ~ nearly 7) asked about how a baby is made. I want to teach her properly without any nonsense. But I feel it's still a bit too young to tell her about sex ......hmmmm or not ?
Also not sure what other parents would think as I can imagine the kids may talk about this. Or am I worry too much ?

DD is 4. When she asked, we told her - obviously in very simplistic terms. Don't see the point in lying. She was spectacularly unfazed.

My nearly three year old knows babies grow in mummies and how they come out - no curiosity as yet about how they get in! She knows about menstruation as well as she wanted to know why I was wearing nappies and what was on them - zero bathroom privacy with a toddler!

So at some point in the not too distant future I will probably be asked this, and I think I'll answer as I have all her other questions - very factually and at a top level unless she asks for more detail. By and large she's stopped listening long before I've stopped talking so I anticipate no such contingency!

DN asked me at a similar age not long after I got pregnant and so I explained how IVF works because that is how I got pregnant. She asked how the baby gets taken out and I briefly went through c-sections and now she is fascinated by all things to do with medicine and especially surgery.

Appreciate it’s not the whole truth but it is right for her at the moment. She already knows about periods and why and how girls have them.

In related matters, child was giving birth to twins (two teddies stuffed up dress) yesterday, with a great deal of very realistic effortful noises - would have been hilarious had we not been at a friend's for Sunday lunch and they were clearly a bit nonplussed!

DD knew the basics at 3! I was also about 3 when my parents told me. She was interested in how babies were made and so we got a book that covered it, including sperm meeting eggs and the special cuddle that grownups do to help them meet. I felt strongly that she should learn the basics early, before it became weird and embarrassing, so we could just talk about it like any other biological function. We discussed it again when I was pregnant with her sister who was born when she was 4. She wasn't that interested in the sex aspect (though did find the sperm race quite interesting and told her nursery teachers about it) and was much keener to talk about how the baby grows in mummy's tummy, but I feel that covering it means that it's a conversation we can come back to later without her being shocked as it's all completely new to her.

I remember starting out wit mine, maybe 4, explaining that Mummy and Daddy have a "special cuddle" to make the baby. ds1 couldn't help but know about birth as aged 3 he was there when his brother was born.
If you just answer all the questions about the "special cuddle" as they come along it is not that difficult. It is all even easier if you live in the country where there is a lot of animal behaviour to be observed....

'Where did I come?' from is a great book.

My then 6 year old Dd2: Mummy has your vagina ever had a party with Daddy's willy?

I'm in my late fifties and my mother told me around 6 or 7. I can remember being far disgusted at the idea of taking your clothes off to do it!

The reason my mother told me then was that she had no idea about it all when she started her periods so was determined that I wouldn't have that terrible shock and fear of something being dreadfully wrong with me.

According to the NHS website, girls can get periods from 8 though the average is 12 so Mum made sure that I knew all about periods and sex before I was likely to start.

Anyone waiting until 8 or later to tell their children, particularly daughters, is being cruel and leaving them open to ridicule and misinformation in the playground at best and traumatised by blood flow at the worst.

When my 4 years old told me she knows I had sex twice, once for her to be born and once for her brother to be born, I new it was time. Needs to be done before friends will impart their knowledge. I used words in their most common meaning. Children are most definitely not made by mum and dad hugging or cuddling.

Tell them when they are ready.
My DS1 was very inquisitive and bugging me all the time. He was about 4 or 5 I think and I gave him a simple explanation while we were out shopping because it felt less of a big deal. He replied "thankyou I don't need to know anymore" lol and that was that.
My DS2 simply wasn't interested until 7 or 8 years old so I waited until then.
I did get my DS1 telling other kids (when they asked around age 8) and nobody was offended.