How Much Do Your Own Kids Know About...

[cillybean83]

i don't know about 17..but i recall my boyfriend when I was 19...and I much preferred his method of teaching over the stupid book my mom bought....tee hee

[jessrlee]

i don't know about 17..but i recall my boyfriend when I was 19...and I much preferred his method of teaching over the stupid book my mom bought....tee hee

Lol! So very true! However I was 16 and I got pregnant. I kinda wish that mom had mentioned some things! Oh well it's all under the bridge now, but I'm making sure baby girl has the facts she needs!

[QualiTcare]

i didn't get pregnant at 16 and obviously i figured out on my own (or through the course of life without my mother's help) that not using protection would lead to pregnancy. BUT when i thought it would be a good idea to get on birth control, i was too big of a chicken because of horror stories i had heard about the obgyn and how much it hurt, etc. so i didn't go. i'm not blaming my mom for me getting pregnant, but i think if she would've taken the initiative to take me and get on birth control, i wouldn't have gotten pregnant when i did. i'll def. be talking to mine about it and escorting her to the obgyn if i have to hold her hand!

[jen]

so do you think they've learned elsewhere, possibly from your 16 year old - or have you had any "sit down" type talks before?

i would say my daughter was 4/5 when she started asking questions about babies and my son was three when he sort of accidentally learned about menstruation and went to inform his sister who started asking a million questions.

YIKES...my 16 y/o is way more responsible than to give that kind of information to his younger siblings. That is definitely a parents job. Plus, he is crazy protective, especially of his sister. He tells her frequently that he is going to follow her around high school and make sure she's behaving. Actually, he is pretty great with his brother too...they fight, but just the other night my 11 year was sick in the middle of the night. My 16 year old got him water, brought him back to bed, and gave him a bucket. Then he left me a note: "Don't wake up K, he's been sick all night."

With my 16 year old we are very open, especially about STD's and birth control, responsibility, and feelings, which I think we started with him at 13 or 14 and just have progressively kept the lines of communication open. My 11 year old knows about puberty, both from school and from us. My 7 year old knows that when Mommy's and Daddy's both want babies, they grow in the Mommy's tummy.

With the exception of school, they are pretty sheltered. I just think that they don't really need all that information before they hit at least 10. As for living with a female, we just don't have those kind of privacy issues. No one walks in on anyone else in the bathroom, I have my own (with hubby) bathroom, we always close doors, and I don't bring my kids in the stall with me in a public restroom.

LOL..so no, we don't shower with our kids after the age of about 2 either.

[safechner]

Well, my girls are not getting there just yet. They are 8 1/2 and 10 years old. However, my 8 1/2 years old daughter told me about "s**" that she heard from a 7 year old boy in the classroom from last year. She arrived home from school and told me about it and I was so pissed. The next day, I wrote an email to teacher and she forwards to vice principal. He called me to explain about what happened. I told him if I were him, I would call his parents about it because my daughter shouldn't know about it since she was only 7 years old. What the parents think but I am sure they probably did it front of him, who knows. He told me off the record, he called his parents about it. Later on, she asked me what does it really mean and I told her not to worry about it and I will tell her what is it when she becomes 11 or 12 years old. She understood but she never mentioned it to me again.

I am planning to tell my girls about everything when they turned 11 or 12 years old.

[QualiTcare]

YIKES...my 16 y/o is way more responsible than to give that kind of information to his younger siblings. That is definitely a parents job. Plus, he is crazy protective, especially of his sister. He tells her frequently that he is going to follow her around high school and make sure she's behaving. Actually, he is pretty great with his brother too...they fight, but just the other night my 11 year was sick in the middle of the night. My 16 year old got him water, brought him back to bed, and gave him a bucket. Then he left me a note: "Don't wake up K, he's been sick all night."

With my 16 year old we are very open, especially about STD's and birth control, responsibility, and feelings, which I think we started with him at 13 or 14 and just have progressively kept the lines of communication open. My 11 year old knows about puberty, both from school and from us. My 7 year old knows that when Mommy's and Daddy's both want babies, they grow in the Mommy's tummy.

With the exception of school, they are pretty sheltered. I just think that they don't really need all that information before they hit at least 10. As for living with a female, we just don't have those kind of privacy issues. No one walks in on anyone else in the bathroom, I have my own (with hubby) bathroom, we always close doors, and I don't bring my kids in the stall with me in a public restroom.

LOL..so no, we don't shower with our kids after the age of about 2 either.

that wasn't an insult - at least i didn't think it was. if you have an 11 year old an a 16 year old, he could've easily informed him of things well before he was as mature as he is now. it happens - my sisters told me all sorts of things especially when they were 12/13 and finding out what was "really going on" and i was 8/9.

my kids aren't sheltered in the sense that i don't want them to know things, but they don't go anywhere other than school so they haven't had the chance to be exposed to much - and the questions started before they even started school. so, i just find it odd that others are saying their older kids haven't even questioned things. i don't know why mine have/do if that's NOT typical. but when they do ask, i answer. i would think telling them they couldn't know yet would make them think it was "bad" or even worse - ask someone that gives an answer i REALLY don't want them to have.

as for the bathroom - i don't usually lock the bathroom, but i don't think it's a big deal for kids to know about menstruating at a young age anyway. i definitely did/do take my kids into stalls with me when i'm at the mall or grocery shopping. maybe i'm not very inventive, but what DO you do with a toddler in a public bathroom?

[GretasLittleFriends]

My older daughter knows about the facts of life, babies, diseases, menstruation, all of it. She is 15.

My son, who is 6 1/2 kind of knows how babies get here. He knows that when a dad and a mom hold each other closely, and the dad plants a seed into the mom's egg. That egg grows in mom's belly into a baby. Then when the time is right the mom goes to the hospital and the doctor helps the baby come out. This last part my son thought the doctor pushed the mom's tummy until it forced the baby out. haha He learned this because he has a 10mo old sister, and we had to explain why/how there was a baby growing in mom's tummy.

[QualiTcare]

My older daughter knows about the facts of life, babies, diseases, menstruation, all of it. She is 15.

My son, who is 6 1/2 kind of knows how babies get here. He knows that when a dad and a mom hold each other closely, and the dad plants a seed into the mom's egg. That egg grows in mom's belly into a baby. Then when the time is right the mom goes to the hospital and the doctor helps the baby come out. This last part my son thought the doctor pushed the mom's tummy until it forced the baby out. haha He learned this because he has a 10mo old sister, and we had to explain why/how there was a baby growing in mom's tummy.

i guess that could be why my daughter has questioned things so young when other's children haven't - because she was barely 2 when i had my son. when she started asking questions, he was small and she remembered seeing me in the hospital, being pregnant, etc. i dunno, i can only assume. she's always been a really smart and really curious kid anyway. i guess honestly answering questions just leads to harder questions! of course when a curious kid asks where do babies REALLY come from and you tell them (the vagina vs. anus like i had to tell her) they're obviously going to want to know more. it's not easy to deal with. you don't want to say too much, but you don't want your kids being laughed at or more importantly not trusting you (which leads to not asking questions anymore) when they find out babies really don't come from a stork. no wonder the stork theory came about - it's waaay easier to stick to that story - until it's not easy anymore of course.

[dEHmom]

I didn't read all your posts but I would assume someone out there has the same thing happen.

My kids just tell everyone that mommy poops her pants and wears diapers.

My kids are way too young still to understand, and I tried explaining to my daughter because she's a little older(almost 7), but she still doesn't understand and she walks around telling everyone that when she gets old, she's going to bleed and have to wear diapers. I hit puberty before I was 11 yrs old, so I think it's important to just watch your daughters and let them know when you see it's about time. For some 10 yrs old to know this is too early. But I knew about it when I was 7 because I had older sisters.

As for where babies come from, mine just know they come from the tummy. My last was a c-sec so it works for us for now

I am completely open with my children though, dh gets soooo mad at me because they call their parts by the correct names. My mom taught my sis and I to call it a peach, well, I still can't bite into a whole peach, and umm...it still makes me giggle. HAHAHAHA.

Although dh taught boys to call theirs a pecker and MAN I HATE THAT!

[jen]

that wasn't an insult - at least i didn't think it was. if you have an 11 year old an a 16 year old, he could've easily informed him of things well before he was as mature as he is now. it happens - my sisters told me all sorts of things especially when they were 12/13 and finding out what was "really going on" and i was 8/9.

my kids aren't sheltered in the sense that i don't want them to know things, but they don't go anywhere other than school so they haven't had the chance to be exposed to much - and the questions started before they even started school. so, i just find it odd that others are saying their older kids haven't even questioned things. i don't know why mine have/do if that's NOT typical. but when they do ask, i answer. i would think telling them they couldn't know yet would make them think it was "bad" or even worse - ask someone that gives an answer i REALLY don't want them to have.

as for the bathroom - i don't usually lock the bathroom, but i don't think it's a big deal for kids to know about menstruating at a young age anyway. i definitely did/do take my kids into stalls with me when i'm at the mall or grocery shopping. maybe i'm not very inventive, but what DO you do with a toddler in a public bathroom?

LOL! I forgot I already answered!!!!!

[jen]

Did it TWICE! I think I need a nap!

[Unregistered]

use medically correct language

I use medically correct language with mine. Still doesn't seem to fully understand but at least it's worded medically correct rather than nicknaming those types of things.