While it's not uncommon it is no surprise and it certainly happens. I got caught up in this in MS and thankfully was able to turn it around thanks to involved parents. It isn't always girls and boys from "bad" homes either, but that is an easy thing to tell yourselves right?.

Start the talks early and KNOW who your kids' friends are.

Yes, normal. I have an ex who lost his virginity when he was 12.

OP, you seriously don't know this?

I'm 43 yes 2nd and 3rd base at that age among my friends. Affluent, smart crowd. Sex usually 15 /16

It's usually older men

Wow. I don't know of any 13 year olds doing this when I was in school and I'm 27.

I think it's pretty standard that kids are doing BJs and HJs in 8th/9th grade. Certainly by freshman year all of my Catholic school friends were doing something along those lines. The public school (Bethesda/Chevy Chase area) kids started a bit earlier.

Some kids (a small minority) in my DD's MS (MCPS) were doing this. One girl got pregnant in 8th grade. Everyone in the school knew about it and it was prevalent enough that trash talking about the topic was common. Many of these kids were from less than stellar homes.

Someone should post the teen pregnancy stats of graduating MCPS HS. Sexual activity is not uncommon in MS and HS. In more affluent areas the girls are on BC pills or use other forms of contraceptives.

I'm 37 and know which 13 yr old girls were giving blow jobs when I was a kid.

I'm 30 and at about 13 yep that's when it starts. I remember having parties and kids would hook up some had sex some just oral sex. When I was 12, 3 girls in my school got pregnant from the same guy months apart they were also 12 and 13.

My DD is in 8th grade and she told us that there is an 8th grader who just left school to have a baby. Crazy.

Yes, some kids do have sex at that age.
Yes, as PP pointed out, some kids get to third base, while not engaging in full intercourse.
And finally, some kids are wildly exaggerating their sexual experience or spreading rumors about other kids engaging in sex.
Regardless, this is why you need to be having ongoing conversations with your kids about sex. Not one-and-done "The Birds and Bees" talk, but ongoing communication.

Is it everyone or just a few kids?

I'm 28 and it was happening when I was in 7th grade (not me personally but I knew people who were). And I attended one of the top schools in the country, so it was a good school full of good, smart kids. Anyways, I remember it being more along the lines of blow jobs, hand jobs, and fingering. Can only recall a couple of people who claimed to have had sex.

My daughter who is no angel was talking to me the other day and she said that some kids at her school were engaging in sexual behavior in 7th grade. I couldn't believe it! Does this really happen. She said that kids were having sex and giving each other blow jobs and hand jobs. What kind of middle school kid would do that? Any parent volunteers/teachers see this? Is it just me or is a bigger problem!?