Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Does your 6 year old know how babies are made?

58 replies

DrNortherner · 26/09/2008 17:18

Ds has been coming home from school with incorrect info (playground chatter I think)

Yesterday he said "To make a baby you have to know the F word don't you?" he didn't know what teh F word was and asked me.

So, off I go to the library today to get a book aimed at kids on the reproductive system. I had a quick flick through and had a bit of a wobble at the penis goes into vagina bit. Is he too young to know this?

Anyway, we get home from school, ds finds the book and flicks through it himself, howling at the pictures of willy's, vagina's and bottoms.

Which makes me think he is too immature.

What do your kids know?

OP posts:

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 26/09/2008 17:21

My six year old knows everything my 8 and 11 year olds know. Which is pretty much everything. I don't see why not really. You wouldn't hold off explaining how the digestive system works if they wanted to know, so why make an exception for the reproductive system.

treacletart · 26/09/2008 17:25

I reckon if they're old enough to ask questions, they're old enough to be told the truth. My DS is 5 and knows the basics plus the frightningly accurate "when the baby comes out, and you will say ow ow ow and then the baby will come out of a special stretchy hole where your willy isn't". Babette Cole's Mummy Laid an Egg is a great way of explaining things. Don't think DS knows any correct medical body part names yet mind you.

southeastastra · 26/09/2008 17:26

ds(7) doesn't know much, there's time for all that, although i didn't explain anything at all to ds(14)

sagacious · 26/09/2008 17:26

ds is six and a half and has shown no interest in knowing

But then to him "babies are boring"

If he does ask I'll probably shuffle to the library and tell him (without the book as a prop i'd be liable to laugh.. yes I am very immature)

DD (age 4) seems to think we are stars in the sky before we magically land in mummies tummy's (her words) I have no idea where she got that from, but as I'm "too old" (her.. sob.. words)for more babies she doesn't seem to want to know any further details

PandaG · 26/09/2008 17:32

my 6yo DD has the Usbourne flip flap body book - which talks about sperm and eggs but not how they meet. Until she asks the question I will leave it there. I've talked about badies being ready to have a baby every month, and if one doesn't start to grow the comfy lining bleeds out but that is it. DS is 8 and have told him everything, as he asked why we were so sure I wouldn't have another baby. Had to explain mechanics to explain a vasectomy.

francagoestohollywood · 26/09/2008 17:33

Ds has a vague idea about sperms and eggs etc, not sure how much he still remembers about the whole thing (we talked about this when he was younger and more curious, showing no curiosity at the moment).

But I have my Babette Cole book ready for when he gets curious again

luckylady74 · 26/09/2008 17:36

My 6 yr old ds1 has no interest, but I've said it takes a 'special cuddle' and he knows where the baby comes out and so on. My 3 yr old twins do too.
School showed ds1 a film last year that didn't explain sex, but showed a cat giving birth and used the correct words to explain the differences between girl and boy bodies. I said they were the real words but in our house we say willy! Many of the mums I spoke to seemed to be very cross about the word 'clitorous' being used in the film, but I didn't really have an issue with it.
I will answer questions as and when (but why is it always a very public place that they say it?) and if they get to 9 without having asked I'll tell them.

Buda · 26/09/2008 17:39

DS is 7 and has no idea. Will keep it like that for a while.

moosh · 26/09/2008 19:44

They taught ds1 it in Year 3 so hes a little older than your dc.

But the funny thing was that when they came out of class at home time,(we knew they were having "the baby making chat" that day as the school sent letters home), my friend went to put her arm around her son, my son's best friend and he proceeded to yell........
"Errrrrrr, get off me, don't touch, my daddy puts his penis in your......." It was at that point that we yelled "Woooaaahhhh, ssshhhhhhh".
It was funny though, I had to chuckle.

chankins · 26/09/2008 19:46

My dd1 is 6 and she knows that you need a daddy and a mummy to make a baby, and she knows that babies grow from an egg, and come out of your bits, and it hurtss, and thats about it so far !!!
But I will answer all their questions honestly and simply as and when they come.

katiek123 · 26/09/2008 20:52

i've always answered questions frankly as they've come up, as a result my 7 and 5 yr olds have never known anything other than the reality as far as babies are concerned - but the younger one really isn't that interested and we haven't had to go into any detail beyond daddy's 'seeds' and mummy's 'eggs' (which he is presumably bamboozled by anyway!). not so my 7 yr old - intensely questioning from the toddler stage. the usborne book is great but we've mainly just chatted about it eg at bathtime and i have fielded questions as they've come. she is APPALLED at the prospect of ever, ever having her own baby by the traditional route and has decided on a caesarian already!!

Bramshott · 26/09/2008 20:54

DD1 is 5.5 and I have so far stuck to "Daddies have a seed and Mummies have an egg and they come together to grow into a baby" but not gone into specifics about how this "coming together" takes place. I'd tell her if she asked though.

Hulababy · 26/09/2008 20:57

DD is 6y. She knows that a mummy has and egg and daddy has a seed, and that the two have to come together to make a baby, and then in grows in the mummy's tummy. And she knows how it comes out. As far as I am aware she isn't aware how the seed gets to the egg, as she hasn't asked me for that detail yet. She does have a couple of books that explain it - Mummy Laid an Egg and Made With Love - which are on her bookcase downstairs and she reads these from time to time too. But she hasn't questions the full details as yet. When she does I will answer as appropriate.

Blandmum · 26/09/2008 20:59

dd did. ds, at 8 doen't really have much of a clue and isn't interested in asking as yet

seeker · 26/09/2008 20:59

My 7 year old does - because I answer questions. They will hear all sorts in the playground - much better tell them a simple version of the truth they earlier the better. Preferably so early that they don't really remember a time when they don't know. What possibly advantage is there in them not knowing?

southeastastra · 26/09/2008 21:02

what advantage is in their knowing?

Bramshott · 26/09/2008 21:06

I think there is a definite advantage in their knowing the correct, if simplified version, to hearing a completly incorrect and possibly scary version in the playground.

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 26/09/2008 21:14

When are you planning to tell your 14-year-old, Southeastastra?

ChasingSquirrels · 26/09/2008 21:17

yes, my just 6yo ds has known since he was 3.5y.

Reallytired · 26/09/2008 21:22

My son knows where babies come from. He knows that the mummy and daddy make the baby together by putting a daddy sperm with a mummy egg. He has no idea how mummy and daddy get the sperm and egg to mix.

He asked me a few weeks ago whether the reason he was an only child was that Daddy had run out of sperm? I chose this moment to tell him that in fact there was a baby growing in my tummy.

WigWamBam · 26/09/2008 21:22

Dd is 7 and has known the basics since before she was 3. We have given her more information when she's asked for it - which she has done regularly.

I'd have thought "there's still time for that" too - but I believe that if they are old enough to ask the question, they are old enough to have that question answered. Always in a way which is appropriate for their age, but answered nonetheless.

The advantage in knowing is that, armed with the correct information, they aren't going to believe the bullshit they are fed in the school playground from much earlier than this - I'd rather she heard the truth from me than crap from a child who knows nothing.

I reckon that a boy who howls at the pictures of willies, fanjos and bottoms is pretty normal meself ... being immature doesn't mean he's too young to know at least the basics.

seeker · 26/09/2008 21:27

I want my children to have the facts as early as possible in as low key and unsensationalist way as possible. That way they are armed against the bizarre playground theories. And they will also (I hope) be so secure in their knowledge and understanding by the time they reach their teen years that they will have the tools to make informed choices about their own behaviour.

frankbestfriend · 26/09/2008 21:31

dd is 7 and knows the penis goes into the vagina and the sperm swims up to meet the egg.

We have Where Willy Went, it is good if your dcs are not ready for the proper scientific facts, as it is more of a funny cartoon story.

We thought we had better confront it when she started sex ed at school and began bringing home worksheets with eggs and sperm, and even a picture of a girl with clitoris labelled

Glad we did it now, she accepted it without any shock/horror reaction as we had expected.

Far better to learn it the right way than some sensationalist version from an 11yo boy in the playground, imo.

Bramshott · 26/09/2008 21:31

Reallytired!

Friendlypizzaeater · 26/09/2008 21:31

My just 6yo knows - I've just explained it to him as simply as possible as hes asked. I also got the book Where Willy Went which I can highly reccomend.

Flip

1 2 3