Raising Davis: When should you start talking to your kids about sex?

Davis recently announced that he has super powers: super energy, super smartness, super speed and super cuteness. Since he came from my belly (I wasn’t ready to explain about my uterus), I asked if I had superpowers too. He answered, rather bluntly, “no, you don’t, only me!” 

However, the idea of coming from “my belly” clearly triggered Davis to ask the next question: “How did I get in there and how did you get me out?” He further inquired whether there were power tools required for the job! 

I stammered on about how it was getting late and he needed to go to bed and continued talking about his super powers. Davis was happy to continue that conversation and I was happy to have averted the dreaded question that I wasn’t expecting for a few more years. 

I have no problem talking to my teenage step-daughters about sexuality and anything to do with the body. It is just different with boys. I can tell the girls anything in a matter-offact tone and they jus t let the information sink in without getting silly. Tracy’s experience talking to her daughters is similar as well. 

Davis, on the other hand, is a typical six-year-old boy who giggles at the words fart, underwear, penis and boobies. I was not about to offer up more words to giggle about, let alone have them discussed with all his peers at school. Wouldn’t that be a fun phone call from the teacher? 

Some parenting experts suggest answering the question honestly, but to what detail? Where is the manual that tells you exactly what a six-year-old boy should know and how to deliver the information? 

I am waiting for the day when he has super maturity powers and no longer snickers about parts of the anatomy. At this rate, I am thinking we can chat again when he’s 21.