How To Talk To Your Children About Sex From A Human Anatomy Perspective

HOW TO TALK TO YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT SEX FROM A HUMAN ANATOMY PERSPECTIVE

If you have been following my blog for sometime now, you know that I am a firm believer in education and teaching my children about a variety of topics. Including human anatomy and about their reproductive systems.

Is your child asking you how babies are made? Otherwise known as the “birds and the bees” if you speak in any type of alternative human anatomy language. If so, then it’s time to have the sex talk with your child. “What do you mean? My child is too young to learn about sex.” Well, maybe. I do not recommend sitting down with them one day and having a full disclosure session about sex. That part has to be age appropriate.

However, they are not too young to learn about how their bodies work, including their reproductive systems.

I recommend that parents talk to their children about their body using anatomically correct language. For example, a penis is a penis. A vagina is vagina. Sometimes just saying the words (now image writing a blog post about them!) can bring up fear, dread or even evasiveness when talking to your children about them.

In our household, my husband and I have used anatomically correct language with our children since they were born. We decided a long time ago that we did not want our children to use “funny” words to describe their bodies. Instead, we wanted honesty and facts to drive our conversation about sex and all that comes with it. Especially when they become teenagers.

Right now my children are ages 5 and 7. My daughter learned to pronounce the word vagina when she was 2 years old. You might think that’s too young to teach a child about human anatomy, but my philosophy is that every part of our human body is unique and should be handled with care. Including when I talk to my own children about their bodies. For example, you don’t hear a doctor ask a worried parent if their child has a pee-pee infection, right? Instead the doctor asks the parent if they suspect that their child might have a urinary track infection. It is simple. A body part is a body part. There is nothing strange, weird or embarrassing about it.

As for now, my children know the following facts when it comes to how babies are made:

Boys have penises.
Girls have vaginas.
Boys develop sperm at some point between the age of 11 – 16.
Girls are born with eggs.
A baby is created when an egg and sperm come together.
A baby grows in a mommy’s uterus.
A husband and wife create babies when they are married.

We have yet to discuss the process of how an egg and sperm come together to make a baby, but when that time comes we plan to say….get ready for it…through intercourse.

To ease into talking with your children about their reproductive systems, I recommend starting with basic human anatomy first. And the good news is that there are many resources available for this purpose. Take a field trip, read a book, watch a video. The options are endless so there is no excuse to avoid the topic. 🙂

To get you started, here are a few recommended resources:

Human Anatomy Teaching Resources & Toys –

The Human Body (A First Discovery Book) – This is the one we use often in our discussions at home.

First Human Body Encyclopedia (one of my favorite publishing companies too!)

Carson Dellosa Child-Size Human Body Bulletin Board Set

Hape – Your Body – Girl 5-Layer Wooden Puzzle

Hape – Your Body – Boy 5-Layer Wooden Puzzle

Learning Resources Anatomy Models Bundle Set (we have several Learning Resources toys!)

Human Anatomy Magnetic Puzzle

Human Anatomy Learning Activities –

Skeleton Crafts

Anatomy Printables

Human Anatomy Field Trips in Southern California –

Bodies, The Exhibition, Buena Park

The anatomy wing at the California Science Center, Los Angeles (FREE too!)

I hope this post inspires you to begin to talk with your children about the birds and the bees soon!

Happy Learning,

Jilleen

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are our own.