Great Sex Education Books for Preschoolers
Tags: book recommendation, preschoolers, sex
I believe in talking about sex with our children from the youngest of ages. It may start with simply naming body parts.
“Did you know a “pee pee” is actually called a vagina on a girl? Boys don’t have vaginas, they have a penis”.
I know for some parents just saying those anatomical names out loud is difficult, but it’s good practice, since the topic is only going to get more detailed with age. There are some great books that you can find in your local library that are written and illustrated specifically for preschoolers. Here are a few that I like. I am sure there are more. Please share you family’s favourites in the comment section and help other parents find good resources too.
4 Responses to “Great Sex Education Books for Preschoolers”
Jennifer Temple
I read “Where did I come from” to my older son at age 6 while carrying my younger. I red it to my self for several nights running and decided I was ready to read it to my son. It went well and I was about to give a sigh of relief when my son said: “Read the good parts again, mom!!” “The good parts, which were the good parts?” They were, as you might imagine the most ‘intimate’ parts. I had not been prepared for THAT reaction.
Tom A.
Seems to me the goal should be to treat all parts of the body equally, rather than drawing the child’s attention to the sexual parts and making a big deal about the “correct” name for each. The problem of course is that these particular parts have names which sound really weird, completely different from the names given to all other body parts, and this will be noted right away by even the youngest child. Is there any real reason a child should refer to his or her bum as “my buttocks”?
As for sex differences, the only thing little boys want to know is how little girls can go pee-pee when they haven’t got a pee-pee to go pee-pee with. Otherwise, little girls are not all that interesting. Talk about vaginas and stuff can wait.
Alyson Schafer
I agree, you should talk about knees and gums and armpit too! A colleague of mine ( Barry MacDonald) says you should have a weekly “body talk” and just start with that. Eye, ears etc.. and move to the sex organs as a matter of course. You don’t need to exceed their interest level or comprehension level. But if you wait for interest, they may be too shy too ask. Set the stage for sharing information and proving you are a safe person to talk to about such things. That’s the goal.
abarenbe
I assume the boxes at the bottom of the post used to have photos of book covers you were recommending. Either those links are broken or are just not showing up on my computer. Could you put the titles in text?
Thank you