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I talk to my kids about science, etc. a lot. They know a lot about how the various systems of the world work. So it followed that they should know about where babies come from too. I told them when my daughter was 7 and my son was 4. I didn't make it a big long preachy thing. I just casually explained how it works when it seemed like a natural time to bring it up. I think we had been talking about growing plants or something and I asked if they knew how babies got inside moms.
They were fascinated, and not uncomfortable at all. Now that they know the basics of it all, any moral /social messages we want to give them later when they are the proper age won't be missed because they are too busy focusing on the juicy details of SEX. I think teaching kids about the world is a gradual thing. You repeat stuff. I'm sure we will revisit the sex talk in the future, but at least they will have a basic knowledge in the meantime.
My 4 year old son brought it up a day or so later at dinner. I hadn't really personalized it at all, but he's no dummy. He had obviously been thinking about it, and what the ramifications were. He made some comment about "that's when you put your penis inside mommy's vagina?"
That's when we reminded him about what was appropriate conversation inside the family vs. outside, and also what was appropriate at the dinner table.
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