My 3-year old daughter knew that girls had fajamas and boys had peanuts.
Gave a “report” about it to her preschool class.
Why go into stuff that’s too complicated for them? My kids knew babies grew in the mommy’s tummy, and that it started growing from something like a seed that makes a plant grow. Accurate, and understandable to a 3-year old brain.
I’ll bet he’ll be a hit with the substitute teacher in kindergarten. 
It’s threads like these that really make me miss good ol’ Caesario…
I just question the validity of children being “subjected” to some horrific scene, like a horror movie. I am not stating that Jesus nailed to the cross is not easily identifiable to any age-group, but I attended my fair share of church until I was 14, and never once was I “subjected” to gruesome imagery (unless you count the previously-mentioned crucfix), or page after gory page of illustrated torture.
But that’s just me, I suppose.
Look, I don’t think it’s going to damage your child for life or anything, but they really don’t need to know the ins and outs of sex at 3 years old.
I’m pretty sure I’d dumb down how integrated circuits are made too for that matter. “You see Billy, using microscopic, photolithographical techniques, and multiple chemical doping processes, we etch transistor patterns onto silicon wafers…”
because there aren’t 3 year-old sized chain saws. when the kid tries to imitate the movie they might injure themselves just trying to carry and start the thing.
We’re still talking about chainsaws, right?
It’s already being dumbed down; saying that penis goes in, starts baby, baby grows in tummy…err uterus, comes out vagina is simple.
That is the radio equivalent of pulling out the antenna, turning on the knob, and tuning to the desired station, as opposed to attempting to explain radio propagation and Nikola Tesla. Which I tried. Once.
When my daughter was 4 or 5 she asked about reproduction. I covered the whole sperm and egg thing. Each time I tried to skim over details she asked appropriate questions to keep me on track. I think the important thing is to answer at the level the child wants to know.
Good point. When your kid asks a question, figure out what he wants to know, as opposed to what you want to tell them.
I guess it was pretty basic for me when my kids asked where babies came from to say something to my kids about fertilizing eggs. If that satisfies them, you may not need to get into too much detail about the mechanics of how the egg and sperm get together. Of course, if they really want to know, I don’t see any reason not to tell them.
I’m not sure I ever told my kids they were not old enough to know something.
I think one thing our entire family enjoyed most was our meal conversations while the kids were at home. I remember one occasion when they asked whether “shut up” was a dirty word. The conversation quickly morphed into “what is the dirtiest word.” Good clean fun for the entire family!
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It’s already being dumbed down; saying that penis goes in, starts baby, baby grows in tummy…err uterus, comes out vagina is simple.
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Yeah, that’s the disconnect,apparently.
We did this not long ago with the same split between those of us being accurate, but with age appropriate language and details - and the people who seemed to think that accurate language was too much detail.
Like I said then; Your kid, your choice.
I guarantee your experience is unique, and I’m guessing non-Baptist, non-Catholic, non-fundamentalist, non-Methodist, non-Pentecostal…the story of Easter is one of the Big Two. Not sure how you were lucky enough to escape the horror. Regardless, horror and reproduction are not equal. I’d certainly protect my toddler from a horrific crucifixion, but see no real justification to “protect” her from biology. I’d rather err on the side of more informed.
Both of my daughters did the same thing around the same age, and we handled it in the same manner. My wife and I covered the topics they wanted to discuss, then when they got a older the questions became more specific.
You can explain it to your kid any way you want. I think whether you call them penises and vaginas or whoohas and ding-dongs isn’t going to make one bit of difference to him. Just be prepared when some parents ask you why your 4 year old is explaining the intricacies of intercourse to their children. Your answer is probably going to be that you’ll explain it to the parents exactly as you’re explaining it to us here. Don’t expect him to get invited to many play dates or birthday parties.
My actual question is getting lost, I think. It is this:
WHY, for those of you who think it is, is 3 too young for accurate language and brief descriptions
I handled it fairly bluntly with my eldest. My youngest is only just 3 so we haven’t talked about a lot yet.
She knew babies grew in bellies; she saw that with pregnant friends. She knew about vulvas and penises; we always used the correct terms, from early on, trying to treat it as matter of fact as possible.
I told her about the mommy’s body making the eggs, and the daddy’s body making sperm that fertilizes the eggs, and that both are needed to make a baby.
That resolved it for a bit, until she came back with “but how does the sperm get to the egg?”. So I explained sex in general clinical terms. And we got a great book from the library: A Child is Born.
To be honest, it was hard for me to be matter of fact and clear, and not beat around the bush. But it is very important to me to do so; I come from a background of abuse and nothing was talked about clearly.
I only provide info as far as their questions ask, but we also try to find good resources (books) that they can look at on their own or with us, because my eldest for example seems to do best with words on the page.
I think it is proper to do things the traditional way. Never speak about sex. Worked fine for me.
I have boy/girl twins who are now five so the supposed chore of explaining what a penis and a vagina were came pretty naturally. After they figured out they had different parts and I explained the proper name for each, we stopped giving them baths together to prevent any self exploration. There are just some things I will not leave up to natural curiosity!
My husband and I have had extensive discussion about when it is proper to talk about sex, and I have concluded my husband is a leave it until later kind of guy, so I will be pulling them aside in private to explain sex to them in clear, unconfusing terms without their father having to be involved in it. I am not sure what age that will be at, but since I am pregnant some questions have already come up and I have explained them without getting to graphic with success. Also, both my kids have seen me naked, after barging in to my bedroom (they can pick the locks in our house), so what a naked lady looks like is no mystery to them. My husband is much more discrete and paranoid about them seeing him naked, so they have never walked in on him.
I’m pretty sure my parents told me all the basics at about three. I certainly don’t remember a time when I didn’t know that the penis goes in the vagina. It’s not like they were telling me about the G-spot or the clitoris. I learned about those from Uncle Cecil! (Really! At age eleven.)
Your kid; you get to make the rules.
I didn’t see the need to get into the fine details with my kids at that age, and they were satisfied that kids grew in women’s tummies (yes I know). I suppose if they kept asking and asking I might have given them the entire story, but they didn’t and that was that. But I’m weird anyway. I don’t have any parental controls on the internet and never have. I figure they’re going to see this stuff anyway, so blocking them will only make them do it somewhere else where they might get caught.