Get ready for The Big Talk

You may have heard a rumor that Time Out Kids is following in the steps of our weekly sister mag and doing a "Sex Issue."  Well, yes and no.

Our November guide to at-home sex education will be visually tasteful—even cute!—so there’s no need to hide it from the fam. However, we will tackle some explicit topics that you won’t find in the national parenting publications (as you may have noticed, they target a largely conservative readership).

Why are we doing it? In August, the United Nations announced it’s working on guidelines for schools worldwide, suggesting that sexuality curricula begin at age 5. And yet sex ed isn’t part of the required coursework in NYC public schools. It baffles us that one of the most culturally enlightened cities in the world would have no standardized sex ed.

So we asked ourselves, how do progressive city parents talk with their kids about sex? We want our children to be smart, sensitive and satisfied—in every way. But where do we start? And when? Is there anything parents shouldn’t talk about with little ones?

We went to the top experts in the fields of child development and sex education, and learned there’s a whole movement afoot: sex-positive sex ed. The gist is that parents should create a foundation of positive feelings about sexuality at a very young age—that our bodies are lovely and amazing, that there are many kinds of families: two mommies or two daddies, a mixed set or single parents. (The bummer caveats about pregnancy and STDs and hook-ups who don’t call back are important, but they can wait a little longer.)

We just put the issue to bed on Friday, so I can give you a peek at what we’ll be covering:

• The Big Talk: What to say, and when, from birth (seriously) to age 12

This is where you’ll find all you need to know about awkward subjects like toddler masturbation, playing doctor on playdates and what not to tell your kids.

• Is my kid gay? A very New York story of boy princesses and butch little girls.

• Parents’ roundtable discussion

We invited six city parents into our office to chat about what’s normal, what freaks them out and how not to mess up your kids (at least when it comes to sex).

You'll want to devour this issue right away, so stay tuned for more info on exactly when it'll be reaching newsstands and mailboxes.