Books to help explain growing up

[eleanorsmum]

Dd is just 8 and I noticed the other day she has downy pubic hair growing. Think I need to have a chat with her but not sure how far to go! Need to discuss love and relationships a bit too as she says a few things about her 'boyfriend' She is totally unaware of periods as I don't get any due to depo contraception. She's never asked about babies not even when I was preg with dd2. She was 5 then. She said something a few weeks ago about a funny feeling in her weewee part when she saw a baby. I know she's growing up and need to do some chats with her but curious as to how far to go and wondered if anyone can recommend good books to assist!

Usbourne used to do a facts of life one, but not sure if it goes further than you'd want

ill see if i can that from library maybe, any others?

Usborne do a 'What's Happening To Me?' in a boys or a girls version, though the girls contains information about what happens to boys and vice versa. It covers pretty much everything in a factual but friendly way. I bought it for DD1 when she was 8 and after a hefty bit of dutch courage read it from cover to cover with her, then gave her it to look at at her own pace.

I found Usbourne, although brilliant, went too far into sexuality than I was happy with when dd1 was ten and evidently starting puberty. I made it up as I went along instead.

That's what bothers me. I want to have an idea of changes but doesn't need to see pictures of sex yet!

I recently bought 'The Care and Keeping of You' by American Girl for my DD1 (10). It is a great book IMO with just the right level of info. It covers body changes, touches on feelings but avoids sex. DD1 has had her basic sex ed at school but would have been mortified if the book had that in. It even has sections on washing your face, showering, etc. I thoroughly recommend it.

The Let's Talk series are good. The 'boys, girls, babies, bodies' one is aimed at younger children (up to about 10) and the 'about sex' one at 10s and over.

I'd second what's happening to me. Read it with 9 year old DS who found it really interesting. He had a copy of mummy laid an egg when he was younger, but that just covers how babies are made, not puberty. However, there are cartoony pictures of adults having sex and the different positions. They just don't see it as we do - he has looked through that book since he was quite little and it's perfectly normal to him. I'm not suggesting that you should be as open as we are with it all, but I do it so it's covered before they start to get embarrassed and don't want to talk about it anymore. At the moment it's all very factual and not a big deal..... infact it's me that struggles not to giggle when reading it with him!

I second The Care and Keeping of You. It is really, really good, very matter of fact, makes it all normal and positive and something a girl can take in her stride. Nothing about sex, lots about periods, what to do if you are caught short in school, importance of enough sleep and healthy eating, good hygiene habits...

They cover sex in school and in good detail. I also got a book called The Period Book but imo it was for older tweens and even teens.