Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Birds & Bees??

Thanks. I laugh every time I think about the dubious look on the kid's face. 5.5 years later, and I still laugh out loud when I think of it!

I want to make a quick plug for early, basic disclosure. I tend to think that the more casually you talk about it, the better--and being able to talk about it casually when they are older starts by being able to talk about it casually when they are younger. You don't have to dump the whole thing on them, but IMHO a child should at least know the very basic facts of life as soon as they are interested in learning about other basic bodily functions. It is a normal, natural function, and tiptoeing around it or hiding it doesn't preserve innocence, but does introduce the concept of shame once they figure out that you've explained everything else but that.

I agree with everyone else about not tiptoeing around this - no way would I avoid books or pages about this! Your DS might find Mummy Laid An Egg too babyish, but if not, I recommend it. Actually this is one of the many areas where David Attenborough Life series DVDs have been very helpful - having DS know about how sexual reproduction evolved and e.g. about how scorpions do it is useful background for talking about humans. Life on Earth and Trials of Life are both very good for this (and lots else).

my dd, by poolside, looking intently at a ring and torpedo toy.

"Oh, now I get it"

I have been wondering about all the birds and bees stuff. In a year or two my son will be taught about it at school. It doesn't seem right to me to just leave it to the school. I have been avoiding books with such discussion because I've been thinking they are too young. But recently, I'm rethinking this.
I recently came across an osborne book on butterflies that I had tucked away. It discusses mating and that might be a nice thing to leave around. I am also going to let my kids know they can talk to me about anything they see in a book.

Has anybody found any books on talking to your kids about the birds and the bees? or websites? I want to try and stay one step. ahead.

Another funny...We were at a new produce market last week, and the clerk, while friendly, was one of those people who think they need to give everybody unasked-for personal advice: "Oh, three boys--you need to have a girl next! Everyone needs a girl...etc etc etc..." (though I think anyone looking at me would realize that the clock has obviously run out on any more children--I get mistaken for their grandmother nine times out of ten)..."and the way you have a girl is to eat lots and lots of avocados and carrots," says she.

Says Chico (4), "no, no, the way you have a girl has nothing to do with what the mother eats, since she has the eggs. It's the daddy's sperm that makes the baby either a boy or a girl." Clerk falls silent, I pay for my fruit, and off we go.

peace
minnie

LOL!

JB

minniemarx - great story! My kids take lots of stuff so literally too.

Niece, 6 years old, comes to visit.

She sees bulls doing what bulls do.

"What is that they are doing?" she asks a female friend who has graduate ag degree.

Female friend goes into long explanation.

A week later I get a call from my sister, asking "EXACTLY what did J tell K?"

Turns out niece got home, mom was preg, and proceeded to ask her "Mommy, did daddy mount you?"

I second JB Dad's recommendation of It's So Amazing. It goes through anatomy, the sperm-meets-egg bit, fetal development, birth, etc., but totally glosses over how *exactly* the sperm gets into the egg's neighborhood, so to speak. There is one drawing, IIRC, of a man and woman in bed under a blanket, and that's it.

Another aspect of the book that I really appreciated was its openness to *all* kinds of love, and pointing out that that kind of relationship is different from a sibling relationship or friendship, etc. The illustrations also include people from all walks of life, not just healthy white beautiful middle-class heterosexual Christians.