Sex education for junior primary kids

[Gigi]

i wonder when is the time to start having sex ed type talks with a child. How to find out how to present age appropriate info.

Do primary school aged kids get sex education at school?

i am so unsure what and how, to discuss sex ed with my child, would love to find some guidance on this topic.

My nearly six year old, keeps asking me about period management and i keep fobbing her off, cos i'm unsure what to say. We live in a very small place. Just how honest should i be with her? I hear that girls are maturing earlier these days, e.g starting periods at 8 (some) so i guess puberty needs to be taught earlier. I don't want to scare my child, but i'd rather her hear stuff from me, rather than gossip in the playground (potentially incorrect info from other kids).

so far, she's been read the Bare Naked book and the "everyone's got a bottom" storybook. All very innocuous stuff, but correct names of body parts are familiar to her, as is the concept of body privacy and body autonomy.
unsure where to go from here. Sure that before i AM ready for it, MORE questions will be forthcoming, i will be put on the spot. Feel like i should be preparing now, so be ready for it (a bit more ready, than i am now).

[Butterfly Dawn]

I got my 1st sex ed class the last year st primary and it was the best I ever had.
We live in a very conservative place and hubby wasn't really given any sex ed.
My 6/7 yr old son is interested and aware. Making his 4/5year old brother aware. Now they have a sister they have confirmation things are different between girls and boys.

I too ponder this question and would be glad to hear what others have done.

We certainly don't have access to books along those lines which makes me cringe. Espc considering all the soft porn pics that pop up all over our internet sites if the proxy isn't working. Stupid great firewall

[Tinks]

There arent any formal sex ed classes in early primary. I always answered my kids questions honestly and age appropriately as they asked them.

[Traveller]

I have an usborne book "how my body works" which explains the reproductive system in terms that are understandable for primary school kids. It doesn't focus on sex which I like, it's just another body system and they are all explained. DS1 reads it quite frequently as he is currently quite obsessed with bones and muscles.

With our kids we answer questions when they are asked. There have been lots about the creation of children and my older kids are fairly familiar with what sex is and how it creates babies. My twins haven't really asked yet beyond the questions of how they got out my tummy.

[briggsy's girl]

I was reading an online article the other day about a primary school here in Vic teaching af appropriate sex Ed from grade prep and hoping it would expand state wide soon... Not what you asked about, but when I read th title of your post I thought it in reference to that article


Anyway, back to your question!

I agree that being age appropriate and accurate is important. We are doing this with dd as much as possible. She knows about periods and managing bleeding. When she asks why I tell her in basic terms that mummy's body got ready in case she wanted to have another baby, and when there wasn't a baby, her body had to get rid of that. I haven't told her how a baby gets in there but if she asks i will try and find a way to explain it that is age appropriate.

She is body curious and touches herself so we are teaching her that it's only her that should touch herself (or us/Granma during bath/drying) and its a private thing so if she wants to touch herself she should go in her bedroom. We don't want to give her a complex about it so we are trying to teach her gently about right touching and wrong touching, privacy etc. she has started asking to dry herself after bath/shower so we let her.

It's a tough call on how far to go in explanations. Don't base what you teach bilby on her age. Talk to her and gauge her understanding and teach her appropriate to that. She may be ready for more than other kids her age, she may not. I know dd has more knowledge of periods and things due to not being able to avoid it (she was dragged to hospital when I was excessively bleeding last year and asked questions we had to answer to stop her getting scared)

[bellany]

Here they do sex ed in primary.
I would answer her questions honestly. Don't offer extra info just answer her questions. If she is asking she is ready to hear it
They spoke about how in grade 3 they tell the kids about a man's sperm and a female egg joining and the cells dividing and show the pic explaining it looks like a soap bubble. None of the kids ever ask how the sperm get to the egg cos they aren't ready to know that much info and what they are given is enough. Then they move onto pics of a baby growing in a uterus etc.
I've followed that kind of principal with my kids so far and they seem to be happy with what I've told them lol

[briggsy's girl]

it's coming up with an error at the moment so i can't open and link the article, but it's titled "Preps getting sex education lessons" and is about a school/schools in Geelong

[sweetpea678]

I've actually pushed for my kids school to start teaching about changing bodies earlier the the last grad of primary school. Not he's easily sex Ed but what happens as we grow up etc. my 12 year old got her period and started getting boobs etc at 10. Now at 12 over half hat class mates have too. One poor girl who is friends with my dd got her period the first time when at her dads and didn't know what to do as she didn't feel comfortable talking to her dad. She used just toilet paper as pads for two days till my daughter told me ans I said to give her a pack of hers.

I think if the schools taught it a bit younger both girls and boys would benefit from it as things change and they know what is normal. I had spoken with my daughter a bit but not a lot as I thought I had a few more years before I would need to worry.

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

In the UK "Sex Ed" starts pre-school. But that's about the importance of washing hands rather than sex. But it is all about a healthy body and how to keep it healthy, also that other people don't touch areas that are under clothes (good blanket rule really).

Had an argument with DH last night - he told Liebling not to have his hand in his pants and to stop playing with his penis. I agreed: you only touch your penis in private. DH got upset: Liebling should NEVER play with his penis. I didn't laugh in his face, but did ask "yeah, how well did that rule work out for you?"

But about periods - Liebling is old enough to ask why Mama is bleeding, so I can explain I'm not injured (please don't kiss it better!), but sometimes grown-up women have something called a "menstrual period" where they bleed out their vaginas. It doesn't hurt (ha!) and they aren't poorly, it just happens. And it's OK. No, Liebling, it will not happen to you. If you bleed from anywhere you should tell someone.

[Phteven]

My boys asked about periods. I told them that every month a woman's body makes a comfy nest for a baby to grow but if there is no baby then they body gets rid of the nest and grows again.

There is a book about the difficult questions children ask. I think the author is Mariam Stoppard (or something similar). It has age appropraite answers for all sorts of awkward questions.

[Tinks]

Here they do sex ed in primary.
I would answer her questions honestly. Don't offer extra info just answer her questions. If she is asking she is ready to hear it
They spoke about how in grade 3 they tell the kids about a man's sperm and a female egg joining and the cells dividing and show the pic explaining it looks like a soap bubble. None of the kids ever ask how the sperm get to the egg cos they aren't ready to know that much info and what they are given is enough. Then they move onto pics of a baby growing in a uterus etc.
I've followed that kind of principal with my kids so far and they seem to be happy with what I've told them lol

That's exactly how I told my kids. I filled in the gaps when they were older.

[nickle730]

My kids school offers a family sex ed program from... hmmm, I think it's prep? So the whole family can go along and there are guest speakers from an organisation that speak about puberty, reproduction and general health in an age appropriate manner. Sorry, can't remember the name of the organisation! Then the whole family plays games relevant to the topic. Sounds a bit naff, but it's a good way to break the ice and get families talking in an open way. I have never attended any of these evenings as I am very comfortable talking openly to my kids, but I have been told by other parents that they are great.

I answer any questions my kids have in a simple, honest way. The hardest part is to only answer the question and not offer further information. I find that my kids go away and process the information and then come back with more questions. My kids were 5 and 7 when DD2 was born... we had 7 months of LOTS of questions!! 'How did the baby get in your tummy, mummy?'!!!