Recently, my 12-year-old son told me he wanted to ask me a question. He followed that with, "Mom, where do babies come from?" He is number 3 of 6 children. We have had this discussion in our home several times already, but it changes based on the age of the kids at the time. Our kids are getting older now. We have 2 teenagers now, and the next two are close behind. Their mind frames now are different as well as their body awareness. Since he asked this question again, this told me that it was time to revisit this conversation, and to do it with all the kids.
Pregnancy pic from baby 6
Being around babies, and seeing their mother pregnant is not new to them. I spent literally spent 10 years straight being pregnant and nursing, and my oldest daughter is 15.
We decided to gather as a family that night with all the kids: 15, 13, 12, 11, 9, and 7 years old. My oldest 2 are girls, and we have 4 boys bringing up the rear. This is going to be asked by your kids, and you can answer their questions, or they will hear other hypotheses from their peers. With correct information, they will be able to weed through all the detritus that they may hear from school friends.
You don't have to make anyone uncomfortable with talking about hormones, attraction, or romance at this point. Keep it pretty much about biology. This is a science lesson. I only used two main sources for my information, aside from first-hand knowledge, of course. :)
We started off showing them videos from www.babycenter.com
I used this website a lot during my pregnancies to get information, and because they have some excellent videos showing various stages of the pregnancy. We pulled up a laptop and showed each of these videos to our kids.
Pregnancy weeks 1-9 Video
Pregnancy Weeks 10-14 Video
Pregnancy Weeks 15-20 Video
Pregnancy Weeks 21-27 Video
Pregnancy Weeks 28-37 Video
After going through the baby's development inside the mother's uterus, we moved on to teaching the reproductive systems of Men and Women. For this information, I also showed these slides on my laptop from www.MensHealthWeb.weebly.com
Male and Female Reproductive System Slides
Here are some examples from the slides that we showed our kids:
We answered all questions as they popped up. They were basic biology questions, and we also went over periods (that information is in the slides also). After seeing the female reproductive system picture, my 11-year-old son said, "Let me guess the vagina is where the penis goes." Yep! The boys also said they were glad that they were not girls, so that they didn't have to get a period with "blood coming out every month."
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I surreptitiously took a picture of them during the "presentation."
Lastly, after going through the baby development inside the womb and reproductive systems, we showed them one more video showing a computerized video of how fertilization occurs. It is very G-rated, and perfect for kids.
Fertilization Video from www.babycenter.com
This is what we used, and it went over really well. You may end up having this conversation multiple times because as I said earlier, kids go through many stages during their physical and mental/emotional development. Talk to you kids about sex. Not only will your kids change through the years, so will their friends. Your kids may get information from outside sources including teachers at school. Teaching your children gives you control not only what they learn, but it also is able to give them a foundation for when they are presented with more information, or misinformation (aka locker room talk). When they ask about it, don't shy away from it. Be grateful they came to you. That shows that they trust you. Honor that. Present it as a science lesson and answer their questions. Any questions for me? Let me know, and I will be happy to answer away.