"The Sex Talk" - Peoria,AZ

I thought this discussion would be so easy with my 7-8 year old...Man was I wrong!! She looked at me like I had sprouted a foot out of my forehead!! Very concerned I had caused trauma I found a video called "where did I come from" I haven't seen it in years...daughter is 19 now! It is a cartoon and at times awkward ( I watched it first alone) but very informative. However, when we watched it together and it was done I asked her if that was better. She shook her head enthusiastically and said "YES" with huge a relief! Hope this helps.

P.S. we always taught our kids the "proper" names for body parts. My mother-in-law (polish catholic) used to freak out! That is one of the reason's I thought the big sex talk would be no big deal...I will never forget the look on my daughter's face!

This is very interesting to me - I would never even think about having the sex talk, in any form no matter how watered down, with my 5 yr old. Not saying that it is bad that parents do, it is just that my kids never even asked until they were much, much older. I have always taught my kids the proper terms for their body parts, although we still use nicknames on occasion. I had the period talk with my daughters between the ages of 9 - 11 depending on how much their body had matured. Interestingly, I asked my 12 yr old son's dad to have the similiar talk for guys with him last week when I found his pj's in the hamper (this kid wouldn't throw anything in a hamper to save his soul) and I assumed that it was time for the masturbation/wet dream/erection talk. So, later I asked Dad how it went he says "boy that kid didn't know the first thing about sex." WHAT? I meant the OTHER talk :) I wasn't mad or anything, just surprised that he would discuss sex with a very immature 12 yr old boy.

My point is, if you don't think that it is time to discuss this with your child yet, then it is not (certainly I am not suggesting waiting until he/she is 16). Lots of moms wait until kids are a little older.

Good luck to you and your friend!

We went to a book store and purchased a book that was age appropriate. You really have to read through them and decide which is best for your child, since each child matures at a different pace.
Most parents use the appropriate words for body parts.
I also suggest that you go over "good touch, bad touch" too. We use the bathing suit as the rule of thumb. Any part covered by the bathing suit is private and no one should be touching or looking.
Good luck!

T.

At 5, I'd keep it EXTREMEMLY brief, and then use the art of distraction. They don't really need to know at that age, so they're more likely to be interested in Hey, who wants to go to Dairy Queen?? I avoid this subject and when cornered (8 yr old) I explain that there are private parts and that's all she needs to know for now. Ugh. She still believes in Santa Claus, so I don't think sex goes with that!!

God's design for sex series. Age appropriate books you can find at christianbook.com

I think the "sex talk" is very subjective when you need to consider how far you want to go with it. I think 5 is awfully young for too much adult information. Kids who have younger siblings understand there is a baby in mommy's tummy and that it has to come out. They usually wonder how the heck it gets in there in the first place. Again, I don't think too much adult info is necessary.
My kid went to a doctor appointment with me and sat by me as I filled out forms and blurted out, "Mom....what does sex mean?"
I thought, "Oh God...of all times and places, you have to bring this up NOW?"
I said we'd have to have the discussion some other time.
But, it turned out that they had seen SEX on the form with a line after it and wanted to know what that meant.
Whew! A girl's sex is female and a boy's sex is male. And that's all they wanted to know. They weren't really interested in "the talk".
You never really know what their questions really mean in the first place so my advice is to go slow and clarify that part first.

My kids had it pretty easy in that my daughter had a baby brother so explaining parts to her happened naturally and he grew up with a sister so things like boobies and mini pads just got explained naturally.

It will be interesting to see what other mamas have to say about the subject.