Teaching the Birds and the Bees to a boy

[katstra]

Hi!

 

I am a single mom who homeschools a ds who is 10 and have since after kindergarten. My son is a "young" 10 year old both mentally and physically. My question is...when do you tackle sexual education?

 

I am definately a coward in regards to this topic! Having been a nurse for 18 years, my son definately has a thorough knowledge of anatomy and physiology. Part of me is tempted to tackle the topic in such a manner that it is so above his head that I can check it off my "to do" list and yet never have to explain a thing other than every technical term (lol).

 

Has anyone had to deal with this? At what age? Are there any age appropriate books that have been useful?

 

I am under a deadline of summer 2009 because we go to Cub Scouts and will be transitioning to Boy Scouts. I do not want him to go away to camp with the public school boys and be informed of this (via the other kids).

 

One last note, his Dad is not in our lives. While that may sound unfortunate, it is actually better for us. So Dad explaining these things is not an option.

 

I apreciate any input.

[Scarlett]

Hi!

Has anyone had to deal with this? At what age? Are there any age appropriate books that have been useful?

 

One last note, his Dad is not in our lives. While that may sound unfortunate, it is actually better for us. So Dad explaining these things is not an option.

 

I apreciate any input.

 

Has he not asked questions? By the time my ds was 6 he was asking me often exactly what sex is. But some kids don't ask questions....I didn't as a child.

 

Anyway, my dh is IN our lives and I still am the one that will do all that sort of birds and bees thing. Dh walked in the room once when I was reading a book to ds explaining some things in detail and he gulped and spun aroundon his heels to get outta there.:glare: That's ok. I can and did handle it myself.

 

Just get a book. And tell him you want to go over it with him. And if he is embarrassed and doesn't want to talk about it....at least he had the info. If he isn't embarrassed and wants to talk...well, you have opened the door for him to do so.

 

But by all means, DO discuss it in one way or the other.

[Rhonda in TX]

A friend of mine has a great blog post about talking to her kids about it - son and daughter. While she mentions how her DH was involved in the conversations, it would be easily adaptable to your situation. I figure I'll be on my own with this, too, despite having DH around.

 

She has some great links at the bottom of the post.

 

link

[Lolly]

I started talking to the girls when they were really little. they knew the basics from early on. They asked questions. They saw me pg and wanted to know how it all worked. The conversations that followed were very natural and easy.

 

Ds is my last. He never had a preggo mommy around. He never questioned about how that baby got inside when he saw other people. He just accepted it as how it was. Since he never questioned anything, I guess it was never brought up. Last year, I realized this and told dh he needed to have a talk with ds. It made sense to me, they were both male. Good bonding and all. Dh never got around to it.

 

This year I switched to using Sonlight. They have a book, Almost 12 built into the fifth grade year that covers s#x in science. When we got to it, I just proceeded with reading it with ds during school science. Everything was covered pretty well. I answered any questions the book didn't cover. Seems none of that stuff had ever entered ds's mind. Dh was very relieved he was off the hook. (Having a man around doesn't always mean that the grass will be mowed.)

[rafiki]

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[AllSmiles]

We recently purchased "American Medical Association Boy's Guide to Becoming a Teen." I thought it was through and easy to read. My son read it and then discussed any questions or concerns he had with my dh.

 

You may want to read the reviews to make sure there is nothing in this book that you will find offensive.

[kimmyandgracie]

Have you seen the God's Design for Sex Series? It has four books in the series, covering the topics at age-appropriate levels for ages 3-14. Here is a list of the books and the ages they are listed for:

The Story of Me (ages 3-5)

Before I Was Born (ages 5-8)

What's the Big Deal? (ages 8-11)

Facing the Facts (ages 11-14)

 

You can get them from Sonlight. They have more information about each of the books on their website. Hope this helps.

[Kim in SouthGa]

My dh just listened to the cd series of Dr. Dobson's Preparing for Adolecence with our almost 12 ds. He said it was wonderful, but the first cd was hard to get through because it deals with all the ..hmmm... "mechanics". I think the cds are great because I know it would be sooooo difficult for me to just get the words out of my mouth!! In about a year and a half I get to do it with our dd. :glare: