25th October 2008

Sex-ed for wusses or the tongue-tied

posted in Books, OmegaDotter, Parenting |

A few years ago, I produced a lame-ass lifebook for OmegaDotter.  I did it in Word, I cribbed pics from clip art and random websites, and managed to confuse her the first few times we read it together because there was a picture of a Chinese woman, and the dotter automatically assumed that she was her birthmother.

Um.

Okay, so it didn’t work out too great.  I’ll have to find it and re-read it to her, see how it goes; it was definitely aimed more at a 4-year-old than a 6-year-old-on-the-verge-of-16.

Anyway, one thing about the lifebook that I was very proud of was that I had a (cribbed from the web) diagram of a fetus inside a woman’s uterus, which prompted all sorts of intensely interested dialog, including the dotter deciding that she was going to demonstrate to all and sundry just how a baby comes out of its mother.

Um.  Ahem.  It provided OmegaDad and me with some hastily-subdued amusement when she would wander into the living room, squat down, go, “EEEAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!”, and then produce a baby doll from between her legs, then brightly announce that this was her new daughter.  At least I managed to explain to her that she needn’t do that at pre-school, thankyewverramuch. 

Anyway, I’ve been on the lookout for sex-ed books aimed at kids, and finally found one that seemed to fit the bill:  It’s Not the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families and Friends (Robie Sex Books) talks about everything on a 6-year-old’s level, gets the basics covered, talks about good-touch/bad-touch, and isn’t boring.  After two tries at the local bookstore, which supposedly had it in stock, I finally gave in and ordered it through them, then waited around for the phone call, then forgot it was there, then remembered one day while off at the grocery store getting Pepperidge Farm Chesapeake Cookies to feed my addiction that it was there, at the bookstore, and the bookstore was two doors down, and hey, I had some extra time…

So I finally got it home a few weeks ago.

The dotter took one look and was immediately demanding I read it to her.

She was thrilled to get the info, interested in all the “right names for things”, and so eager to read it that she ditched Ramona for quite a few reading nights in favor of this book.  She giggled and exclaimed, “EW!” at the anatomically correct drawings of boys.  She kept demanding to see what was next.  I found myself blandly talking about pen1ses, test1cles, vulv@s and vag1nas and smoothly segueing into a brief description of the sex act itself without stuttering, blushing, getting tangled up, or desperately wanting to Be Somewhere Else.

We took our time going through it, doing about 4 pages per session.  There’s a lot of information; it covers what sperm is, what eggs are, relative sizes, what happens to your body when you go through puberty (though a great big gaping hole is a lack of mention of menstruation), ess eee ex, how babies are made (not the ess eee ex part, the sperm and egg part), how babies grow, a glossed-over description of how babies are born (any child who is read this book will not get the “EEEAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!” part), a quick talk about twins, triplets, and higher, a paragraph about adoption, etc.  It’s filled with cheerful cartoon drawings, shows “diversity” without being preachy about it, and has a cartoon bird and bee mascots who make smart-alecky commentary as you go along.

So, if you’re like me, ready to tackle it but needing help getting through some of the parts, this book is for you.  Highly recommended.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 25th, 2008 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Books, OmegaDotter, Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 5 responses to “Sex-ed for wusses or the tongue-tied”

  1. 1 On October 25th, 2008, Jess said:

    I love that book, and read it to H last year. What really amused me no end was that I brought it to my library (where I also worked at the time) and showed the head of the children’s department. She seemed a little surprised that I was reading that book to a five year-old. (As for the menstruation thing, she has interrupted me in the bathroom often enough to have at least a vague notion of what menstruation is. Heh.)

  2. 2 On October 25th, 2008, AmericanFamily said:

    hahaha! We have all the Robie Harris sex books. M loves to read Its not the stork from time to time. The only part she regularly gets stumped by is the picture of the un*circum*cized pe*nis. She is always dragging that book out and asking someone to tell her how to pronounce it.

  3. 3 On October 25th, 2008, Kate said:

    Glad that sex ed talk time in my parenting life is over. :) Hey, been thinking about you. I vacationed in Florida recently with a gal who has a ‘dotter’ adopted as yours and I think they’re about the same age! Such a small world. Anyway I told her to check out your site as you 2 Moms have much in common…

  4. 4 On October 25th, 2008, Sister Carrie said:

    We have that book too. It’s a good one.

  5. 5 On October 25th, 2008, preTzel said:

    I never used a book. I just answered questions matter - of - factly when asked and gave “THE” talk when it was time. I think Teen was a verRRRy smart young man because when he was 5 and at a doc’s visit with me he saw a picture of sperm and asked me what it was. I said “A male fish.” He said “Liar, that’s sperm.” From that point on I have made it a point to be HONEST about all their questions just in case. ;)

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