Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Early Anatomy Lessons...


As I mentioned last week, my baby boy is due next week. The catch here: I have two girls. Now we're having a boy. This brings a concern to my mind...

I have an incredibly talkative and curious three-year-old. She has to tell everyone everything she thinks at any given moment. I am quite certain it will only take a diaper change or two for her to notice a major difference between herself and her new brother, and I'm sure she'll have to discuss it with anyone we come across!

So, my questions for today...

How do you teach very young children the difference between boys and girls?

How do you help maintain a healthy curiosity while also teaching what's appropriate to talk about with others (mostly outside of the family)?

Any tips on something I haven't thought of yet,
since we haven't actually had the baby
?


I'm sure my daughter will surprise and embarrass me at some point along the way, probably more than once. Any tricks I can have up my sleeve will be helpful!

~Laura~

3 comments:

Tannie Datwyler said...

I wouldn't worry about this too much. As long as you answer her questions honestly then I don't think she'll make a huge deal out of it... though knowing Jane you are in for a few embarrassing comments in public. But people KNOW how 3 year olds are.

As for explaining it... I just told my daughter that boys and girls just look different where they go potty and that was good enough for her.

Alyssa Harper said...

I'm the same. Answer openly and honestly. Nothing to be embarrassed about. Kids just want to know. Sometimes my boy looks over my shoulder curiously as I change my girl's diaper. I say something similar to Tannie, using simple words he understands. "Whas dat?" he asks. I answer, "That's where she goes pee pee," because that's the kind of terminology he understands right now. As soon as his question is answered, he loses interest and wanders off to find something else to figure out.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, we had this particular Q&A session about 5 times a day for the first three weeks of having my daughter. The novelty of it wore off over time, and now he doesn't care about it at all.

Britta said...

I have no boys- but I think its pretty much what the other two have said. Just answer honestly and very simply.

My personal opinion- I wouldn't let older kids actually do diaper changes and if I felt older kids were 'looking too long' I'd casually tell them that their little brother (or sister) needs to be private and they can come back to play after the diaper is changed.

I think this gives some boundaries to the older siblings without crushing curiosity.