Explaining the birds and the bees used to be so easy. But in these days of delayed parenthood and assisted reproduction, simply explaining the mechanics of intercourse doesn't always answer the question of "where did I come from?", says Narelle Wickham.
Wickham's book, Where Did I Really Come From, guides children through IVF, donor insemination, surrogacy, adoption and the question of why Philip has two mummies and Chloe has two dads.
Wickham says she originally wrote the book for her daughter, then five, who was conceived through donor insemination.
She also hopes it will speak directly to the more than 80,000 Australian children born with the help of assisted reproductive technologies.
"I really wanted to write a book that told an honest story about conception - a book that included all children," says Wickham, who has a background in adolescent mental health.
"I wanted to create a sex education book I was happy to read to my own daughter."
She believes children are ready to talk about sex and reproduction "when they start asking questions" - which she says is usually between the ages of five and seven.
She says the book, as well as reflecting current reproductive trends, is written in a frank and honest way that will be easily understood by children.
"Sometimes, a woman really wants to have a baby but she doesn't want to have intercourse with a man," Wickham writes.
"Some women want to bring up a baby by themselves, or with another woman, so the baby gets two mums."
The book also explains conception, pregnancy, labour and birth.
In a foreword, leading Australian reproductive expert Professor Robert Jansen, the director of Sydney IVF, says the book offers parents the opportunity to "put secrecy aside" when it comes to childrens' natural curiosity about their origins.
Jansen says a career of reproductive medicine has taught him that children can matter-of-factly accept their own conception and its circumstances, regardless of what they are.
"To answer a child's question 'where did I really come from' accounts of storks and cabbages no longer do," he writes.
Where Did I Really Come From? went out of print when it was first published 1992 but has been relaunched this month, taking into account the tenfold increase in the number children born from assisted reproductive technologies since then.
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