The right time

How do you know when it's the right time to talk to your kids about serious things? This year has been a difficult one at our school. We have had some major mountains to tackle and, most recently, the untimely death of a lovely young teacher. My kids are 9 and 5 1/2. In our home, death is something that we can talk about openly. But, beyond their great-grandfather, they have never had a close relative or friend die, so it might not seem very real to them. When an animal dies, we say he died - not that he went to sleep. In our family, we know that Heaven isn't a place you go to just because you were a good person. We know that accepting Jesus as your savior is the only way to get there and, once you're there, it is a glorious place. But, talking to them about a tragedy got me to thinking about how and when I will talk to them about other things in life. We live in an age where children hear about sex and drugs and alcohol and promiscuity WAY too early in life. You can't turn on a radio station without hearing someone talk about drinking or smoking weed or smacking someone's a$$. It's filth. It's scary that there are people who find this type of talk acceptable. But, there are. And there are parents who don't care that their children listen to it. So those children know these lewd words and expressions and you can be sure they share them with other kids. The school bus or playground is not the place I want my kids learning about sex or drugs. I can't remember having those talks with my parents. I know I certainly didn't ask about stuff like that. I was probably one of those kids that got a lot of information from my friends. That's dangerous. And, worse yet, it's hard to undo. But how old should a child be before you talk about drugs or sex? I had a Girl Scout once that mentioned sex during a meeting and I said yes, sex is what we call male or female. Smart, right? Answer the question with a fact and divert the other girls' attention. The girl says "no, not that kind of sex, the other kind." Of course, I nipped that in the bud right away. My kids have been taught that babies are made by married people, but they're old enough to see that there are a lot of unmarried couples that have babies. How come Justin Bieber's parents weren't married? Avoid question - talk about his hair. Here's my worry - should I introduce these things? Should I talk about things that my kids might not even have heard about yet. I mean, they have signs in school that say it's a drug-free school. Do they even know what drugs are? Heck, I had a mom get upset with my daughter last year for telling a classmate that Santa isn't real. So in third grade, there are still kids believing in Santa and I'm worried about talking about beer and marijuana and the birds and the bees. I wish I could just stop time.