My Dd is a boy

What I found fascinating was he used to give me his doll to breastfeed. Very young children are aware of biological reality.

Yep. My son was certainly around 2 when he did this, with a little conversation around why.

My just turned 3 year old knows she has a vulva and her baby brother has a penis. I'm not sure she realises all people have one or the other though.

I just always tell the truth but keep it simple/matter of fact. They don't have any preconceived ideas about what is "yucky" or "naughty" - those come later on!

I've just told her that sometimes grown up women bleed from their vaginas, but it's normal and it doesn't mean that I've hurt myself and the reason I wear a pad in my pants is to catch the blood. She was happy with that but I like the explanations others have given here for why the blood is there in the first place.

I just try to be matter of fact about female and male bodies as much as I can while keeping it simple enough that she will understand.

My 3 year old told me yesterday that Boy George was a girl (we were watching the Karma Chameleon video). It's understandable that she would think that at her age, but I just told her very matter of factly that no, he was definitely a man and that having long hair with coloured hair ties or painting your face didn't make you a girl.

I always remember the woman,who said she was a tomboy all her life, never wanted a dress or long hair...
She married a man who like pretty colours and cooking and was effeminate,. They have 3 child, she works he keeps house...
She said she was so glad her life was like this....

I said that when I was little! I think 3 is fine to discuss the differences between men and women, boys and girls. I did with mine and it was all very matter of fact, no big deal. Just talk about stuff honestly, periods too. I just said it was part of a cycle that enables Mummies to have babies and she’d learn more as she got older.

At 3 my daughter would take all her clothes off and crawl around on the floor. When questioned her response was "cats don't wear clothes".

I am pretty certain that I didn't worry about needing to explain to her that she wasn't a cat really.

I’ve been quite straightforward but kept it simple. I let her lead, when she’s asked questions I’ve answered them honestly.

I grew up in a household that was pretty open about menstriation, neither of my parents acted like it was embarrassing or not to be discussed so I’m very comfortable discussing that with anyone, really. I don’t menstruate so I’ve not had to explain any bleeding to my girl yet, but she knows we have eggs so it’s not too hard to explain I reckon.

Mainly though I think women shouldn’t be embarrassed about their biology- I’m not criticising anyone here for how they feel about their periods, btw- but we wouldn’t have our kids if it wasn’t for the fact we begun menstruation so teach kids they’re ok to talk about.

Dd is 5 and knows she has eggs in her tummy and she's very proud of that! She says 'poor boys don't get to grow babies'. I explained periods in a similar way to TooMinty.

Some good answers on here for what to say to my 4-year old about periods. Sadly, the last time she noticed it was in a public bathroom too and she said loudly 'what's all that red stuff in your underwear??' (I don't use tampons, I use pads) so I didn't really want to go into a detailed explanation of menstruation right there but next time it's just the two of us, I certainly will use some of your explanations upthread!

For my two DC, I have a boy and a girl so it's a little easier because from an early age, they noticed each other's differences in the bath etc. Now at 4 and 7 they are happy with the explanation that a boy has a penis and a girl has a vagina (which is the word I prefer to use). Cue my 4-year old stomping around in the nude with her legs wide open going VAGINA! VAGINA!!! Not sure if this is some form of early onset TERF syndrome but she's very proud of herself! She has seen me naked too so she knows that our bodies are the same and I think that makes her happy to be like me.

Both my kids are actually very identified with their respective genders, for some reason, even though I tell them over and over again that boys can have long hair / wear dresses, girls can have short hair etc. They have friends who defy all the gender stereotypes but they seem comfortable with staying within the norms for their genders. I would have loved if my DS had asked to wear pink tutus and my DD had been a tomboy but sadly they are pretty boring, not speshul at all

My son was like this. He was adamant he wanted to be a girl when he was a similar age. I kept saying that he was a boy but he could do anything a girl could do, and it turned out he wanted to do ballet and thought he had to be a girl to do it.

He is 9 now and still dances, is very vocal about anyone doing and wearing anything they want, and is definitely a boy. He does have long hair, and he is planning to go as the boy in the dress for World Book Day. But he doesn’t say he is a girl any more.

Actually your period is a good place to start talking about biological sex, I think.

My 5yo daughter last year saw the results of my period and we talked about how when girls grow up they have a period and it’s needed to have children. That it doesn’t hurt like getting cut does and is very normal. Anyway, anything to normalize female body experiences is I think helpful.

Lol at her suggesting you bandage it...

3 is old enough for the penis/vagina division. At 3 she is about to hit a world of gendered stereotypes. It’s shocking how strong the messages can be from peers. Having the biology in place will help when you have to explain that boys can like pink and glitter and girls can like trucks and mud.

*takes his underwear into the bathroom to change into when he gets out and dries, not he takes them into the actual shower...

My DD always chooses to role play the boy characters from mixed-sex TV programmes.

I'm not really sure how to explain the anatomical differences with my just turned 3 year old, because she never sees any man/boy naked... Not because I'm a prude, she sees me plenty naked, but because her dad strips off on the bathroom,has shower, takes his underwear etc in with him so really she never sees anything. She doesn't have a brother or a friend who is a boy that she sees outside of nursery, so unless she sees them in the mixed toilets at nursery I don't know.

My children and grandchildren always noticed the obvious biological differences just from observation of close friends and family. Then questions would arise naturally which led to boys and men have willies, girls and ladies don't. I'd say a little nudity is the best way to learn e.g seeing a baby have it's nappy changed, not worrying too much about swimming costumes for preschoolers in a paddling pool or allowing a young child to wander into the bathroom whilst Mum, Dad, Grandma or Grandad are having a shower. Of course all of us can do anything!

Oh and I don't think now is to young for the basic explanation of physical differences between boys and girls.

Does she ever see her dad naked? As that normally raises the question of what's that? Then simple explanation of boys have penis' and girls have vaginas.

"No love, you're a girl, but that doesn't mean you can't do anything that boys can do! Let's go play trains/cars!"

Mine know they can wear or look any way they want but they are boys because they have a willy. It's pretty simple actually (with the rare exception of intersex conditions & that probably is a little complicated for little ones). Penis (Willy) = boy, Vulva (winkie)= girl. They know the anatomical names but we don't use them day to day. Girls grow up to be women, boys grow up to be men. Boys can paint their nails or have long hair. It's all gravy, but they are still a boy. Likewise girls can wear a shark t shirt, play football and have short her. She is still a girl.

Periods wise - I said it happens every month if a women doesn't have a baby in their tummy. It can be sore and then I take some medicine, but it's normal and I'm okay and don't need a doctor.