Children’s sex education starts with answering this question well
Almost every parent has been worried about how to answer when asked by a child “Where do I come from”. Because almost every preschool child will raise this question sooner or later. Therefore, instead of thinking about relying on “You are too young, I will tell you later” to deal with it for a while, parents should better prepare for sex education for their children. Today, we are here to share with you the analysis of this topic in the classic book “From Diapers to Dating” by Debra Hafner, the chairman of the American Sex Education Council and an expert in sex education. Take a look.
For the child’s question of “Where do I come from”, what parents really feel embarrassed about is to explain to the child the link of “How I got to the womb”. But what parents need to know is that when preschool children raise this question, they are not actually trying to understand the details of sexual intercourse.
Psychologists have done research on how children understand fertility. They discovered that before school age, the children were “geographers”, and the children just wanted to know where the babies came from and where they were before they were born. In the lower grades of elementary school, children will change from “geographers” to “makers”: they begin to be more interested in how babies are born.
Therefore, in the face of this problem, parents must first understand what the child already knows. You can ask your child first: “Where do you think you came from?” Or say: “Do you mean where you stayed before birth?” Then, parents can start with very simple questions and observe how the child continues to discuss Is this question of interest?
For example, when the child asks “Where did I come from”, the parents first answer: “Do you mean, where were you born? Or how is the baby formed?” If the child says “I mean the baby”, then the parents You can answer: “What a great question! The baby grows in a place called the uterus in the mother’s body.” The child may then ask: “What is the uterus?” The parent can answer: “It is a special part of a woman’s body. It’s just below the abdomen. Only a woman has a uterus, so only a woman will give birth to a child. But when a baby is born in the belly, the father will also play a special role.”
A conversation like this generally satisfies the curiosity of most three- to four-year-olds.
However, don’t be surprised if the child walks away and thinks about it, and then comes back with more questions. For example, the child may ask: “How does the baby get into the womb?” Parents can answer: “Before the baby is born in the mother’s belly, it needs a man and a woman. There is a tiny egg cell in a woman’s body, and a man’s body There are some tiny sperm cells inside. When the egg cell and the sperm cell are combined, a baby begins.”
This type of conversation may be sufficient for most children aged five or six. But if your child is still interested in this question, continue to ask “But how do the eggs and sperm fit together”, you can very briefly introduce what sex is. You can say: “When two adults love each other, they will kiss and hug each other. The man puts the penis into the woman’s vagina, and then the sperm enters the vagina through the penis, swims along the vagina, and into the woman’s womb. When sperm meets an egg in the womb, a baby may start here.”
Even for the most curious preschoolers, this level of introduction is sufficient. At the elementary level, you may introduce it in more detail. I think that the lower grades of elementary school are a more appropriate stage for parents to introduce the concept of sexual intercourse to their children.
Parents may ask: Do I really need to have such a conversation with my child?
Think about it, instead of asking an older child to describe to your child the ugly impression of an adult having sex, it is better to emphasize positive sexual information to your child carefully. If you don’t educate your child about sex at this time, but wait until he grows into a conceited quasi-adolescent, and then talk to him for the first time about sex, he will probably say: “I already know these things. Up.”
The above is today’s sharing, from the book “From Diapers to Dating” by Dr. Debra Hafner, the chairman of the American Council for Sex Education and an expert in sex education. In the author’s view, answering the question “Where do I come from” concisely and clearly will lay a good foundation for future sex education dialogues between parents and children, because the child knows that he can get real answers from his parents, and the parents also I am willing to answer his questions in this regard. Sex education is a new and challenging field for every parent, but if you prepare well in advance, the result will not be too bad. I hope today’s content has inspired you.
