My 5 year old loves to watch nature documentaries, and has seen animals mating. She's never asked questions, so I've not commented. (Actually, I tried to comment, once, but the scene was already onto something else, and she said "Mommy. Shhh. I'm trying to listen to David Attenborough!")
Anyway, we were gardening in the rain the other day, and watching snails. The conversation got onto baby snails and laying eggs and I mentioned the word 'fertilization'. She said "I know about fertilization - that's when the daddy sits on the mommy." Time for a conversation! So I got a book called "How Babies are Made" by Andrew Andry. I love it. It starts off showing how plants need parts from two different plants (the ova and the pollen) to make a seed, then goes on to how animals need parts from two animals (the egg and the sperm), to make a baby. My daughter's comment when she found out how the sperm reaches the egg was "Ewwww. Gross!" (which is now my 2 year old's favourite phrase ), but it was really clear, and she had no problem understanding any of it. I think the 'gross' comment probably means I should have read it to her earlier!
I told her about how babies grow when she was two and I was pregnant, so she already knew about the uterus, umbilical cord, birth etc., but I missed out the bit about how the process all started. I remember her telling my 80 year old mother-in-law "The baby might come out of a cut in Mommy's tummy, or it might come out of her vagina!" My MIL just rolled her eyes.
My youngest is now two, so she's been listening to the book, too, but she's not very interested in it.
How old were your kids when you told them how babies are made?
Anyway, we were gardening in the rain the other day, and watching snails. The conversation got onto baby snails and laying eggs and I mentioned the word 'fertilization'. She said "I know about fertilization - that's when the daddy sits on the mommy." Time for a conversation! So I got a book called "How Babies are Made" by Andrew Andry. I love it. It starts off showing how plants need parts from two different plants (the ova and the pollen) to make a seed, then goes on to how animals need parts from two animals (the egg and the sperm), to make a baby. My daughter's comment when she found out how the sperm reaches the egg was "Ewwww. Gross!" (which is now my 2 year old's favourite phrase ), but it was really clear, and she had no problem understanding any of it. I think the 'gross' comment probably means I should have read it to her earlier!
I told her about how babies grow when she was two and I was pregnant, so she already knew about the uterus, umbilical cord, birth etc., but I missed out the bit about how the process all started. I remember her telling my 80 year old mother-in-law "The baby might come out of a cut in Mommy's tummy, or it might come out of her vagina!" My MIL just rolled her eyes.
My youngest is now two, so she's been listening to the book, too, but she's not very interested in it.
How old were your kids when you told them how babies are made?