Teaching Sex and Body Parts to Children. What and at Which Age?

Young children are generally curious about their bodies and explore them. Touching their own body parts is common and normal. Children

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are also curious about adult bodies and may try to touch adult body parts, such as their mother’s breasts. Children of ages 2-3 yrs may be interested in bathroom activities and enjoy talking about or watching them. At about age 4-5 sexual behavior becomes more social. Children may play games such as “Doctor” in which they look at and touch one another’s sexual body parts. By age 5, most children have asked some questions about sex, such as where babies come from, physical differences between males and females, body organs and functions, and the coming of another baby.

What do parents need to tell kids and when?

Teaching kids about sexuality is not a 1 day job, it’s a process. As your child grows, it is necessary to talk to them about various issues.

When child is 3-4 yrs old:

Boys and girls are different
Accurate names for body parts of boys and girls(avoid funny and made up names)
Babies come from mommies
Rules about personal boundaries
Give simple answers to all questions about the body and bodily functions

When child is 4-6 yrs old:

Boys’ and girls’ bodies change when they get older and how they change and how bodies of girls and boys are different
Simple explanations of how babies grow in their mothers’ wombs and about the birth process
Rules about personal boundaries (such as, keeping private parts covered, not touching other children’s private parts)
Touching your own private parts can feel nice, but is something done in private