Sex talk with 6yr olds ... Help needed!!!

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Hi
Please can anyone give me advice on how to answer my 6 yr olds questions about how babies are made! I used to tell them i swallowed a seed and grew them in my tummy but that isn't working anymore ... They know something about an egg but as i have no idea what to say to them i have not found out what they know about an egg!! They are boys and do not have any males in their lives. They know all their body bits, the difference between boys and girls etc and i am very open with them however I don't want to be too graphic ... I also think this talk will raise questions about their father who does not want contact ... any ideas on the best way to handle this ... I knew these questions would come ... just not so soon!!! Any advice much appreciated on either issue and Can anyone recommend any books that may help?
Thanks

tell them the truth!!!

they will find it all out at school otherwise and will 1) know you were lying and 2) risk being told all sorts of inaccurate stuff

don't tell them more than they ask tho.
so if they say "how does a baby get into your tummy" then say something like "the man puts a seed into the woman's tummy and it meets up with an egg and turns into a baby"

if they're satisfied with that then great. if more questions arise from it then answer those too.

When dd was a similar age she asked, and I told her that mummy had an egg and daddy put a seed with it that made it grow into a baby. She then wanted to know how the seed got there, so I said that the daddy's willy got hard and he put it inside the mummy so that the seed could go and find the egg. She said 'what happens if the willy doesn't go hard?' I struggled with that one!

Fortunately it was bedtime, and we were snuggling in bed with the light off, so she couldn't see my face during this conversation!

Get Mummy Laid an Egg - it is really brilliant, funny but accurate.

seed is just another word for sperm isn't it?
lighten up a bit, they're only 6!

the body book by claire rayner is good too

someone on here recommended it to me. can only get it second hand now, but i got mine through amazon for £1.90!

I think seed is absolutely fine - the general idea is all they're looking for at 6 - not a detailed biological explanation.

Phew, Thanks Mumnetters, I am feeling a lot more relaxed about it and laughing at myself for panicing to much. Your advice is greatfully recieved and has put the whole thing into more perspective :)it doesn't seem like such a daunting subject now.
Thanks for the book advice ... amazon books winging way to me plus a few others so i'm more prepared for future questions, will post my thoughts on them once they arrive.
Thanks again.

There is an absolutely brilliant book I love by Nicholas Allen called Where Willie Went, about a sperm called Willie who trains for the great sperm race, which he wins of course. Have a look at it on Nicholas Allen's website. All his books are great. We especially like A Pigs Book of Manners - a funny book about the perils of bad behaviour, which I could still recite out loud from memory, even though my children are now 11 and 13.

We got " How did I begin?" It uses all the "correct" words but in a simple way. We had a moment with the description of the special cuddle, where dd (6) looked horrified and said "Why would anyone want to do THAT!?"

But she was perfectly able to understand the chromosome thing - you are a bit of your mum and your dad, and how it works with twins etc. And the birth bit. It also mentions CS. I was quite impressed. Next door had a baby earlier in the year and she took it round there to show them.....

Seed is fine - it's biblical!
Agree, tell the truth. I think I used a garden hose comparison at one point!
They aren't phased at all at that age.

This is very popular at my parties.

This book is amazing and tells it how it is in great detail. My DSs1 and 2 have been dipping in and out of it since they were 5 and 6. And does tell the whole story including same sex relationships, adoption and different types of families, so may not be everybody's cup of tea. I really liked how it put some emphasis on love and responsibility and how it was better to be an adult before having sex and how some touching was nice and right and others was wrong.

I also really like 'Mummy laid an egg' although I know people in RL who object to how sexual intercourse is depicted in it (silly pictures of mummy and daddy 'doing it' standing on their heads or suspended by balloons) - FWIW mine thought it was very funny.

In principle, I totally agree to just answer their questions as they come up. Mine sometimes aks something that takes my breath away, I answer and the toddle off.

Was Mutt taking issue with "seed" or with "tummy"?

It might be clearer to say there's a special place in a mummy's tummy where a baby grows. Proper name could be used. But "tummy" can suggest to a v small child that you ate it, and as the OP included the ideavof swallowing a seed, it might be time to get away from that a bit,