The Birds and the Bees...

neneromanova

When did you tell your children about the birds and the bees? DD1 is 7 at the end of the month and keeps asking where babies come from and how they come out.

:eek: the joys of being a parent.

trolleyrun

I knew how babies were made by the age of 4 - I read it in a book. Didn't do me any harm. If your DD is asking questions, answer her. You don't need to go into explicit detail, but she clearly wants to know. Find a book suited to her age if you want, then you can read it together.

raven83

I would be quite honest and upfront to be honest, I was the same with my girls and it never did them any harm. I didn't want to feed them some made up story so I told them the truth, obviously not to get too graphic but in an appropriate way. My mum told me that if you kiss a boy you get a baby in your tummy......can you imagine my horror at the age of 7 thinking I might have a baby in my tummy! Be honest and upfront all the way!

Corelli

Ditto to what trolleyrun said. Follow the child's lead. When they ask, answer their questions. It's a lot better to give them accurate information yourself, than to correct the inaccurate and sometime angst ridden information they can get from ill informed peers.

There are lots of good books out there now, and if you don't get embarrased it can all be a very normal sort of discussion. The way you teach them how the seasons change and everything else parents teach their children. Wait till they get giggly and silly and it becomes much harder. I doubt my children can remember a time when they didn't know, and it was not a difficult topic. Until puberty, when the hormones hit they don't want to talk about this stuff ...

kafkathecat

As others have already said, I just answered my son's questions as factually, and briefly, as possible. I also left age appropriate, Usborne type, books lying around for him.

A funny aside: when I was younger, two children I was babysitting asked me where people come from. I made a brief comment along the lines of mummy's tummy to which they replied,'No, we know where babies come from but where do people come from?'

Mojisola

neneromanova wrote: »

When did you tell your children about the birds and the bees? DD1 is 7 at the end of the month and keeps asking where babies come from and how they come out.

:eek: the joys of being a parent.

Our 2 1/2 year old was brought to the maternity ward, took one look at the new baby, stared at my stomach and asked "How did it come out?"

It's one of those moments when you realise that everything around the room has gone silent and everyone's ears are straining to hear the answer!

I said "Mummies have a special baby hole that opens very wide when the baby is ready to come out". Child says "Oh, okay" and lost interest.

heartbreak_star

Mum says she remembers me asking what a lesbian was when I was young (6-7ish?).

She answered honestly that "it's a lady who loves another lady like Mummy loves Daddy."

Apparently I went "Oh, ok" and that was that

If you dance around questions, kids will get more intrigued. Honest, appropriate answers will provoke the above response, IMO

HBS x

trolleyrun

Apparently, after I read the book about how babies are made aged 4, I asked my mother: "Did you do that?" To which she replied "Yes I did". My answer caused much hilarity: "That's disgusting!" :rotfl:

krustylouise

My DD is 7. For years I've always just said you need sperm from a man and an egg from a woman and they grow in the ladies tummy. Since we've got pregnant her questions became more specific and she asked HOW the sperm got from the man into the woman so I told her the truth. I used the correct terminology and was very honest and matter of fact. She didnt react to what I told her in anyway and just said "ok" and then moved on to something else more exciting!

Jacko_amz

totally agree with the others just be honest, but age appropriate. I'm a school nurse and the amount of children we get during puberty talks etc who have the wrong info is huge! always best to be truthful as growing up without the right info could leave them vulnerable in the future.
Amy x

Kaye1

I agree. I was honest with my 6 year old. (I was pregnant so she was interested.)


When I told my friend I had told her the bare facts, she was totally mortified. She said she told hers it was 'magic.' They were 7 and 9 at the time. She was so disgusted that I had told the truth. She said they should 'remain children!