I bought a book for my son at Christmas about the human body I had a quick flick through it and thought hey this is a good book !

What I didn't see was it had about having babies and sex in it :O ...

My nine year old was reading it and came up to me and hubby after dinner asking what a period was ! I nearly fell off my chair I was not ready for this !

So began an hours long talk about sex babies and periods. I ended the talk with 'well now you know you was not bought by me but made by mummy and daddy'.

She laughed lol.

Now she keeps coming back with questions so this will be ongoing for a while I guess. .

My 11 year old son who had already been told all this listened intently and a few more things sank in for him lol.

[salukigirl]

Well kudos to you for being so open and honest! I know my parents never had 'the talk' with me. When I had my first period I was so ashamed and embarrassed I never told anyone. I would sneak tampons or just put toilet paper in my underwear as pads! I had no clue what was going on!

We never talked about sex in our family. I am really glad to hear that someone is so open with their child about the nature of the human body. And we all know that, as kids, we can always tell when people are bs-ing us. Especially our parents! So going in with a bunch of fairy tales about storks and such only makes them more curious and wanting to go elsewhere for information. Plus, now she will feel more comfortable and close to you.

[Perna]

That will learn you to check books you give your kids more closely Thought you'd watch the movie instead of read the book did you, to pass the test?

Congratulations on handling the situation so well; I guess there's a bit of relief having the "hard part" over? Now wait until she tells her friends and you get calls from their parents!

lmao i have threatened her not to talk to her friends about it lol it was one of the last things i did lol...

[Perna]

Oh, so now in five years, her ignorant 14-15 year old friends will talk about it and get stuff wrong and she'll wonder if she should correct them or not. She will and her friends will think you're cool and come over to talk about sex with you because they don't think their own parents will understand. If I were you, I'd start your new career now, start studying to become a sex educator?

Oh please ... NO ! That was so hard lol she is soooooo nosy she really did want to know EVERYTHING even things I hadnt thought of like 'how big is the egg ?' lol. 'can you cook it ?'

It was not fun .... lol.

[Martin^^]

We bought our daughter a similar book when she was about 7/8 i think, answered all her questions, all fine...

But she used to sit with her younger cousin and read her stories when they played together. Guess what book she decided to read from one day!
I was mortified. Fortunately, my bro-in-law and his wife saw the funny side and weren't upset at their daughter's impromptu sex ed session. I think they were relieved it saved them from having to broach the subject!

[racee]

my parents never talked to me...had 2 older sisters i guess they thought i wouldn't need a book i would learn it on my own..wich i did and actually knew more about that subject and was correct than many people my age was...and to this day...wow!! some people still have wrong facts...don't they teach that stuff in school....no wonder there are so many surprise teenage young adult pregnancies

[JustWannaDisappear]

I'm wondering... what do you (any one here) think is a normal or average age to be curious about where babies come from and body parts? I have a 5yr old girl and she's been asking questions and my mom told me she's way too young to even ask these things. I've been open with her and my mom thinks it's wrong.

[Martin^^]

JWD - kids are naturally very curious and inquisitive and are likely to ask all sorts of questions, more or less as soon as they can talk! It is not at all unusual for a five-year-old to ask such questions and I think you are right in being open with from the start.
One of my kids is adopted and we also introduced the idea that she had another mummy when she started asking 'where did I come from'. She is now adult and is glad we told her right from the start.
If you want good communication with your kids as they grow up, you are best to be honest and open from the outset, especially with the more difficult topics.

I think it should be age appropriate, I don't believe in telling them the ins and outs of getting pregnant and giving birth to a five year old right.

[JustWannaDisappear]

Originally Posted by Tishie

I think it should be age appropriate, I don't believe in telling them the ins and outs of getting pregnant and giving birth to a five year old right.

LOL no definitely not. She asked and I told her when she's an adult and decides she wants a baby then her belly will grow one. And she asked where it came out, so I told her and she said "well I looked and I didn't see any holes down there" I didn't tell her any of the other things, I just wait for her to ask right now.

[AAAAA]

Good Luck Tishie! I was always really open with my kids about everything. Eventually I was the go to person for all of the teens when they wanted straight answers. The kids asking the questions appreciated it, but my own kids were mortified.

I was really surprised at what 16/17 year old kids didn’t know. It shocks me that in this day and age of information that many did not know for example that you can get pregnant your very first time. Or their lack of knowledge about diseases.

[MandiePoo]

Well, really, I think 9 is a perfect time to talk about periods. I got mine at 11, b ut I do know a few girls who got theres at 10, so you are not far off, and some girls get it earlier. I remember being so frightened because I didnt know why I was bleeding. I thought I might be dying and was mortified so I didnt reveal to my mom for months of that. I just used toiletpaper. And ofcourse had an accident or two at school due to it and ended up being coompletely mortified. I wish someone had of talked to me abbout it because I was being abused by my dad in "that" way, and perhaps had I known more I would have known enough to tell someone sooner than I did, and stop it. Doesnt sound like thats even remotely your daughters case, but you never kknow right?

Good job Tishie.