I want to keep the conversation open and continue to fill in gaps. She's happy about reading together so we have been reading about puberty in The Body Book for Girls.
She is in 4th grade in the public school. This week they have "Human Growth & Development" class. The curriculum begins this year and goes further next year. It's optional for elementary school. We requested Grace to not participate. Mostly because we want the conversation to be open between her and us, as parents, so hopefully conversations with her will continue naturally as she grows older.
If we're not going to have her participate in sex ed in elementary school I feel I have the responsibility to make a plan to educate her. If I never have "the talk" with my kids, they are going to find out. Experts now say "sex [ed] by eight or it's too late". Far better to have her go to the class in elementary school than leave her to find her education on her own.
The other night I asked her if she wanted to talk about sex. And she repeats this line from a movie she likes where the mother is embarrassing her son with her dancing moves...."You're hurting me, mom!" You're hurting me!"
I think she's ready for more details. I've been on a hunt for a good book to help but I've been totally disappointed. I found a few reject books on the subject that either are too vague [the man & woman "fit together"] or silly [pictures of old, naked, cartoon characters in the bathtub together], or written before I was born. Is this all there is to work with? Makes me want to write and illustrate a sex ed book for kids. Plain, straightforward answers that approach the subject like it's interesting and wonderful and has decent illustrations.
Let me know if you've got something that would help this mom out.
2 comments:
Focus on the Family has a great series that we have used by Stan and Brenna Jones. I believe there are 3 different books for different ages levels. They brought up a lot of questions that I would not have been prepared for. :)
Hey, thanks!
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