I have a 9.5 year old boy and whiles he's JUST begun asking questions, I don't feel as though it's too early to AT LEAST teach him about his own body. I'm looking for a good (Christian) book that will help my husband and I paint a picture for him; that we can read and answer questions with him. Any suggestions?
There is a series of 4 books by Stan and Brenna Jones called "God's Design for Sex" series. The 4 books are for different stages by age range. the one for the 8-11 range is called "What's the big deal? Why God cares about sex". I would look at the one before that as well: Before I was Born.
I know this sounds really simplistic, but... the bible! Read to him from Genesis how God made man and woman differently, and how we are both special in our own ways. Boys and girls are both given such wonderful gifts, but they are different gifts.
We have always explained it to our kids like this... "The dad has the seed and the mom has the garden. Without a seed, a garden can't grow anything. Without a garden, the seed won't grow. But when the seed is put into the garden, it will grow!" It may sound immature, but it's an easy non-sexual way to explain it.
If you think your son is old enough to handle specifics, I think he's going to be most comfortable talking to his dad. I know my daugher gets uncomfortable when talking to her dad but she's okay talking to me. I think she can relate to me because I have the same parts as her. LOL
Good Luck!
I second "God's Design for Sex" series. Love it!
Who am I and where did I come from
Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer
We read it to our 5 year old because he had been hearing things at school
The Miracle of Life by Ami Loper. www.momsnotes.com
I took a great class at my church called "Growing Kids God's Way" I am not sure if that is a curriculum or an adaptation of a book, but could be worth checking out. I say that because one of the areas we discussed was how to have a continuous dialouge about sex and sexuality. The key thing it covered was continuous and age appropriate. They actually demonstrated a method of how to initate at a very young age with flowers. Very applicable and gave great tips and tools to use!
Best,
We got a book called The Caring & Keeping of You The Body Book for Girls for my 11 year old daughter. It is a book about the changes your body goes through not necessarily sex. There is The Boys Body Book Everything You Need To Know About Growing Up also. You can find it on Amazon. Good Luck.
S. G.
check at the local christian book stores or online. I will be doing the same thing since my duaghter is 10 and I will need to talk to her soon as well. Good luck!
When an employee at a child care center is taking their CDA training one of the things they have to work on is building a resource file that can help them answer questions from parents or give them ideas where to get the information. One question they get asked a lot is this very question. When I was building my resource file I utilized the children's librarian at my local library. They know the books in their section very well. I found tons of books that were very scientific, very general, some were graphic and for older kids, some were about "there's a special place in mommies tummy for the baby to grow". If you ask the librarian she should have a few books that you can check out and read with your son.
The graphic one wasn't pornographic, just too much information for a young child. Very artistic but protraying the changes in the human body during development.
