How young is too young to discuss?

[Angie Mother of 3]

Last night I got a disheartening phone call from my sister-in-law telling me that her 17 year old daughter (my niece) found out that she was pregnant.

I thought that all three of my children were downstairs with my husband, but apparently my oldest son who is 10 was in the hallway outside of my room when I was talking to my sister-in-law.

I don't know how much of the conversation or everything that he heard, but now he's starting to ask me questions like "Mom, what is birth control?", because he obviously heard me say that.

He's 10 years old, which seems kind of young, but he's been persistent about it last night and today. How do I explain something like this to him? Or do I even try to?

Thank you a lot experienced parents/teens/whomever!

 

[Pepperoni]

well i would wait til he learns some of it in school. then he can get all the questions out - and its easier to answer.

 

[Hummingbird]

Parents should always answer kids questions. Because he's only 10, you don't need to go into great detail. Just tell him that it's medicine that people take so that they don't have a baby until they are married. Then, in a couple of years you can go into more detail, when you talk to him about sex.