John Henry: “Hey, Mom. I know how God made us.”
Me: “You do? How?”
John Henry: “Well, first He glued a bunch of bones together, and made them into a skeleton. Then, He put a costume on us.”
Me: “Very good.”
Whew.
Okay. I recognize that I accepted his interpretation of how life is created and even applauded him for it. If you go back to the creation story in Genesis, John Henry is not too far off. Right? Maybe only a little.
But it got me thinkin’.
When does the real sex talk happen? I would imagine that we drop a little 411 here and there as our kids mature, so when we sit down for the big doozy, it’s not as shocking. Kind of like when MacGyver unlocks our bedroom door and we explain to her that mommy and daddy are “talking” or “snuggling”. This rests better on the ears of a three and five year old. Of course, who knows what the pre-schoolers are talking about on the playground these days. I’d like to think the only buzz is Buzz Lightyear. For real.
Parenting. This should be fun.
Have you had “the talk” yet with your kiddos? If so, how old were they when their little minds were enlightened?
DustyTakle.com 
I started this process early. It gets easier as you practice. For the fourth child though, I was open and forthright and so much more at ease. Then, she came home from 5th grade sex ed mad as all get out. Apparently when you’ve had the equipment removed, it’s easy to forget to talk about those monthly moments!
My children are 35 (daughter) & 28 (son). IF I remember correctly, it was given in bits & pieces, but never ‘made up’ versions, like some kids hear. The more knowledge they have, the better, but be prepared to hear it come back to you, after being shared with friends. Start getting them ready as soon as they appear to be able to handle it. Then when sex ed in school happens, they won’t be shocked. Nor will you.
And for heaven’s sake, beware of PBS! I’ll never forget the time our son watched a show on how not to get AIDS on PBS & his father had to straighten him out. He’s still scarred, to this day. My husband, that is.
Just remember the Mom that was asked by her preschooler…Where did I come from? and as a medical person she went into graphic detail and the kid said no, not that , I mean ” Where did I come from like what US State? Sometimes, we get too technical too fast. Make sure you understand “their real Question” before jumping in head first!
When Alex and Morgan were your kids ages and they came by the hospital to pick me up from work one afternoon to go eat supper and a Lamaze Class was going on, Alex said that that was stupid for the men to spend their time in there learning about having a baby because the Dr. wasn’t going to let them help cut the baby out anyway (C-Section). So I had to tell him that not all babies got cut out and he asked how the other ones got out. At this point I explained to him that the mother pushed like she had to go stinky and he said “YUK!, that is gross, they could get stinky on them” and before I could say a word, he said, ” Well, I guess it could be worse, they could get blood on them or something” and I said yeah, it could be worse! And that was the end of that discussion for a few years!
Dusty,
I think you have to keep the lines of communication open constantly, this way when they give clues that they are curious(and they will if you are truly attentive and listening) it will be easier for both of you to have that “talk”. With Justin it came in small conversations with us both Jeff & me over a period of time and it started as early as 3rd grade. He came home from school after hearing other classmate’s comments on the subject.
Our concern was that our children not think of sex as something dirty and forbidden, but as something beautiful to be enjoyed by MARRIED COUPLES.
Hope this helps.
It’s an ongoing process but I just finished reading “Preparing Your Daughter for Every Woman’s battle” and she is 10. There is a version for sons and daddy’s too.
I think I was 8 when I asked the -Where did I come from? — My mom decided that was the day to tell me I was adopted. she did a beautiful job, but I really just wanted to know about the sex stuff. I went to the library and read a book ( didn’t check it out, just read it there;-).
I do think the bits and pcs. from early on is better — a lot of the ‘by the way, this may start happening soon if not already – work well with the boys so they don’t think they are the only ones whose bodies are changing and doing strange things. It has really been more interesting than scary to find out what they are thinking about things. Love Ya!