Having I fucked up the sex talk?

Not many rural upbringings in this thread! There’sa reason it’s called talking about the birds and the bees… And cattle and dogs and ducks. Children see these things and you explain why the male pigeon is on top of the female, then explain that humans are similar!

😂😂😂

Christ almighty wtaf

You definitely did the right thing. Giving a straight answer and using anatomically correct language is the way to go. They'll hear a garbled version in the playground anyway.

I think I read someone on here talking about calling their vagina a flower, and then giving their reception teacher a shock when she asked them to draw a flower!

What? That is the truth!

I too loathe the term ''Cuddle''

I associate it with unpleasant things.

Hug not so much.

You've done exactly the right thing. Telling kids the mechanical truth is fine, just as it is with regard to the brain, or the heart, or anything else. Your kids now know they can always ask you honest questions and you won't bullshit them.

Some children grow up on farms and spend lots of time around livestock. Does your DH think they've all ost "innocence" or will end up with ruined lives?

Special cuddle is horrific, just adds ambiguity and confusion and frankly makes me want to throw up.

If you tell them eating the seed got you pregnant they’ll never be able to give a blow job in peace

If that's true, I'm never eating watermelon again...

A special cuddle sounds like something Prince Andrew would say.

It’s so odd all this ‘special cuddle’ and ‘I ate a seed’ stuff. Sex for procreation is a functional human procedure. Like all other mammals. It’s not something embarrassing or dirty. I don’t get why you’d lie. Like really don’t get it

I had a book age 9/10 that said this- my parents took me out of sex Ed and bought me a book. I found it really crappy, using the saying “cuddle” really messed me up and I thought every cuddle/hug with a boy at that age would cause pregnancy. I was v sheltered lol.

I'm of the opinion that we should probably start informing folks - adults (and some badly informed pregnant women believe it or not) included- that no baby has ever grown in it's mother's stomach/tummy/belly though 😬

"Basically, you answer a child's question when a child asks it rather than sitting down with them at the age of three, or even older, and giving them a talk about sex. If you are relaxed and comfortable with yourself, a very small child will look at you and point to a breast or a penis and ask what it is. What is important is that children know about sex before their own hormones kick in and sex becomes a subject of giggles and embarrassment. The younger they are, the more normal and natural sex seems, but you don't have to give them every single nut and bolt."

A quote from good old Clare Rayner there.

And the cutesy euphemisms can actually endanger children, I'll never forget a programme I saw where a child's sexual abuse was missed because they didn't understand the terms she was using.

You did the right thing, no special cuddle or silly names. You want them to hear the truth from you, not staying curious and ask around and get wrong information.

My mum had a similar approach to you, I remember when I was 11/12 years old and some of my friends had all sorts of misconceptions about sexuality and how embarrassed they felt.

Sex Ed in schools starts very early now and uses the correct anatomical language. So I really wouldn’t worry. Your husband is the one out of touch.

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Am a bit torn. ds 5 recently asked and we told him when a mummy and daddy love eachother they have a special cuddle to have a baby. He told his teacher who then told me she thought it was a good explanation

I’ve never understood the taboo around this. I’d children ask them you respond in a factual age-appropriate way. I’ve taught a lot of sex-ed over the years and am sadly no pinger surprised by how clueless some (much older) children are with the subject!

6 does seem very young to be asking about this/telling them in great detail.
I probably would’ve changed the subject or said it was a chat for another day, and told them when they were older- especially this stuff about penis in vagina. I would be very wary that your kid may go telling others in school about this, I wouldn’t be happy if I had a 6/7 year old who came back from school saying “mum my friend told me about penis going into a woman’s vagina.”

I would maybe tell your child not to go telling kids at school as some parents prefer to talk to them about it first.

I was taken out of sex Ed lessons by my parents when I was 9, so that’s probably why I am thinking like this. I do think 9 is old enough to know in scientific detail, but not 6.

I think you need to be prepared that your DC may well now go into school and tell their classmates whose parents may not be best pleased that their DC have learnt this from them

@TheSmartestGiantInTown1 I told my son about babies when he was really young- far better very young than older.

Stolen their innocence?

WISH as a child parents had warned me as a child to beware of people who tried to be ''inappropriate'' and to tell them immediately someone touched me in a private area.

Preparing kids and saying ''this part of your body is yours and yours alone, no one else is to touch it'' is protecting 'innocence'.

If you start putting off questions you don't want to answer, he will get his information elsewhere, and he won't come to you with questions in future either because he knows he will be fobbed off.

Yeah there is, 10 year olds get embarrassed and don’t want to have the conversation. 6 year olds don’t care and there doesn’t has to be a cringey ‘sex talk’ that makes them never want to ask you anything again. Plus it means they aren’t hearing rumours from their friends and getting misinformation.

I taught sex ed in secondary schools. The amount of misinformation I’ve had to correct is ridiculous (washing the vagina out with coke afterwards stops you getting pregnant apparently!). I wish people would just be more straight with their kids at a younger age, rather than brushing it off as a chat for when they’re older. They never want to have the embarrassing chats then and don’t feel like they can ask their parents things because they think their parents are too embarrassed. It would stop so many getting into bad situations if parents could take a more pragmatic approach.

Yes. It's strange how parents lie about father Christmas and the tooth fairy and all of that. Agree with you it's best to tell children the truth. It doesn't steal their innocence. Far more weird to expect them to believe a man goes around the world buying presents for millions of children