Kids Already Know More About Puberty And Sex Ed Than Anyone Realizes. Be Honest With Them
At some point, most parents will find themselves faced with an inevitability: the moment they realize it’s time to talk to their children about puberty and sex ed.
For some parents, these conversations begin as early as possible, before their children have any idea what they’re talking about. For others, it happens later.
While I definitely fall in the “talk to your kids as early as possible” camp, I understand why parents can feel nervous about opening up this conversation. But here’s the thing: your kids probably already know more about puberty and sex then you think they do. Even if you aren’t the one talking to your kids about these topics, they probably know at least one kid who has been talked to, or who has an older sibling who is more than happy to share details.
And I don’t know about you, but the idea of my child finding out the details of sex and puberty from a bunch of other half-informed kids really does a number on me.
Why do you have to talk to your kids about puberty and sex?
You need to have these conversations with your kids because everyone goes through puberty, and nearly everyone has sex. Your children are probably going to encounter sexual situations, and that could happen with or without your knowledge, and could even happen before you think they’re old enough for it.
As Karen Young put it on Healthy Children, “Firstly, your kids are going to hear about sex, from their friends, from surfing the internet, and by watching the television. By getting in first, you are making sure that they receive the right information and more importantly, that they know how you feel about it.”
How honest is too honest?
For me, there’s no such thing as conversations with your kids that are “too honest” as much as there is definitely a thing as “age-appropriate” conversations. The difference there might be tiny, but it’s real. If you approach a potentially hard conversation in an erratic, scattered way because you’re anxious about it, your kids are probably going to associate those erratic, scattered feelings with the topic itself.
Another thing you can do from the very beginning of your child’s life is to use the proper names for various parts of their bodies and of your own. It’s perfectly okay to arm your child with the real names of their own body parts: there’s nothing shameful about knowing what your body is called.
By doing this, you will also lay a foundation of honesty for your child in terms of conversations about puberty and sex. And hopefully, as your child ages, they’ll feel like they can come to you with their questions, concerns, and experiences.
Healthy Children says that between the ages of 0 and 2, you can teach your children:
www.topbuzz.com
since most of you are parents and most even have grandkids, is it right to have a talk with kids about sex?
times have changed since when you were children or raising your own, is it safe to let your grandkids learn about sex from strangers, the internet, or basically the world like you did?
and as you've interacted with kids from different generations, is it time we introduced sex education in schools? (since the kids are already learning about sex from an early age and the parents/your children are too busy and us shy as you are to talk to them)
those who are teachers is it better to have sex as a topic in school or should parents handle that responsibility? (all teachers will be taught about sex and how to teach since most teachers don't know about sex and are afraid of talking about it with kids)
At some point, most parents will find themselves faced with an inevitability: the moment they realize it’s time to talk to their children about puberty and sex ed.
For some parents, these conversations begin as early as possible, before their children have any idea what they’re talking about. For others, it happens later.
While I definitely fall in the “talk to your kids as early as possible” camp, I understand why parents can feel nervous about opening up this conversation. But here’s the thing: your kids probably already know more about puberty and sex then you think they do. Even if you aren’t the one talking to your kids about these topics, they probably know at least one kid who has been talked to, or who has an older sibling who is more than happy to share details.
And I don’t know about you, but the idea of my child finding out the details of sex and puberty from a bunch of other half-informed kids really does a number on me.
Why do you have to talk to your kids about puberty and sex?
You need to have these conversations with your kids because everyone goes through puberty, and nearly everyone has sex. Your children are probably going to encounter sexual situations, and that could happen with or without your knowledge, and could even happen before you think they’re old enough for it.
As Karen Young put it on Healthy Children, “Firstly, your kids are going to hear about sex, from their friends, from surfing the internet, and by watching the television. By getting in first, you are making sure that they receive the right information and more importantly, that they know how you feel about it.”
How honest is too honest?
For me, there’s no such thing as conversations with your kids that are “too honest” as much as there is definitely a thing as “age-appropriate” conversations. The difference there might be tiny, but it’s real. If you approach a potentially hard conversation in an erratic, scattered way because you’re anxious about it, your kids are probably going to associate those erratic, scattered feelings with the topic itself.
Another thing you can do from the very beginning of your child’s life is to use the proper names for various parts of their bodies and of your own. It’s perfectly okay to arm your child with the real names of their own body parts: there’s nothing shameful about knowing what your body is called.
By doing this, you will also lay a foundation of honesty for your child in terms of conversations about puberty and sex. And hopefully, as your child ages, they’ll feel like they can come to you with their questions, concerns, and experiences.
Healthy Children says that between the ages of 0 and 2, you can teach your children:
- The names of their body parts- yes, the penis and vulva too!
- That it is okay to touch all parts of their body – let them grab their vulva or penis at bath time or during nappy changes.
- Start pointing out the differences between boys and girls – boys have penises and girls have vulvas.
- The correct names of the body parts and what they do.
- That boys and girls are different but are also the same – girls usually have a vulva, boys usually have a penis but we all have nipples/bottoms/noses/hands, etc.
- That our bodies are different and that is okay to be different.
Kids Already Know More About Puberty And Sex Ed Than Anyone Realizes. Be Honest With Them
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www.topbuzz.com
since most of you are parents and most even have grandkids, is it right to have a talk with kids about sex?
times have changed since when you were children or raising your own, is it safe to let your grandkids learn about sex from strangers, the internet, or basically the world like you did?
and as you've interacted with kids from different generations, is it time we introduced sex education in schools? (since the kids are already learning about sex from an early age and the parents/your children are too busy and us shy as you are to talk to them)
those who are teachers is it better to have sex as a topic in school or should parents handle that responsibility? (all teachers will be taught about sex and how to teach since most teachers don't know about sex and are afraid of talking about it with kids)
