She was 5 years old when she ask me what sex means, I got panic then but thankfully able to resume my composure and asked her where did she read it. Good thing that she read it from an application form where it has a Male and Female option. That was relief for awhile... at least as I was able to explain it to her in reference to gender.
Last weekend, hours after watching this video about baby's life cycle inside mother's womb, my curious daughter asked on how mommies know if there's already a baby is in their tummies.
I explained the concept of menstruation to my 8 year old daughter ---> you know stuffs like mama has an egg cell living inside her tummy and that this egg cell waits for papa's sperm cell and that if no sperm cell visits the egg cell then this egg cell will grow old and becomes blood and that is why mama has blood visits every month (monthly period). And that if papa's sperm cell will not visit mama's egg cell to form a baby then mama will have her monthly period and if no monthly period that means baby is already in mama's tummy. (Whew! Honestly not sure of my answer here!)
I thought that was end of the story but her follow-up question was a face palm as I don't know what is the best explanation to give for an 8-year old to grasp it.
"Ma, how will papa's sperm cell gets inside your tummy and meet the egg cell?" she asked.
Its a challenge and I'm up for it but I really hope my kids will learn this sensitive matter first thing from me.
So I guess I need to do my homework huh!
Any ideas on how to sex educate children appropriate to their age?
By the way, this is the video we watched:
There was a blog entry from teachwithjoy.com somewhere about how to tell children about it. I could no longer locate the entry but I remember something that she wrote there - tell it to your kid(s) as if it were any ordinary topic. Telling it in another tone or making it mysterious will only increase the curiosity. After that, she said, her boy asked about another topic like nothing *sensitive* was talked about.
ReplyDeleteI also just recently bought a very thin book entitled Where Do Babies Come From. It's under the Usborne Starting Point Science series and it's meant to be for the young children. The explanation on the sex part was pretty straightforward and the correct terms were being used (for the body parts).
Of course, all that is easier said than done. My daughter is still a year old and I hope we are still far from this phase as I still find answering it a little awkward. Good luck and do share on how you went about it. :D
Thank you for sharing your thoughts mommy Pam.
DeleteI sure hope that the next time she ask, I'm way too prepared :D
I haven't thought of explaining this to my little boy, Oh boy! that would be more difficult!!!
OMG! Honestly, I am not really prepared yet to answer that question. Luckily, my two daughters haven't asked me about that question yet. But I guess, I better start doing my research, so that when that time comes, I will be prepared!
ReplyDeleteI think I can never be prepared enough regards this topic to talk about with my children. I have to do my homework now.
ReplyDeleteOMG! My daughter also asked about sex but in reference to a form as well! I don't think I'll be able to explain fully to her at this point.
ReplyDelete