These days information is pretty much everywhere. There are more parenting books and websites (and blogs) than a person can reasonably read in a lifetime (let alone in between feeds and nappies and school runs).
I still have questions though...
When is a good age to start teaching kids about what to do in an emergency? How to get out of the house in case of a fire (without scaring them?).
When do you teach them to recite Mummy's mobile phone number in case they get lost (without them spouting it to every stranger they meet?).
When do you start giving them pocket money and expecting them to do jobs around the house?
When do you tell them where babies comes from?
Where meat comes from?
When do you start explaining that life isn't like a Disney fairytale and that violence in the real world has real consequences. That the 'baddies' in the real world don't always learn their lesson/fall off a tall building/apologise sincerely.
How do you balance their innocence as children with their safety in the real world?
LIFE WITH THREE KIDS: parenting is relentless... and chaos is beautiful.
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Definitely tricky questions.
ReplyDeleteI was suspended in "how much do I tell?" silence when Magoo asked me (in the car - captive audience and no escape!!) "so how does God get the seed into your belly to make the baby?".
I (cowardly) decided three and many months was too young.
:-) xx
We have already covered lots of those questions (eldest has just turned 5). I tend to address them as they come up, as questions are asked by my child, or if a relevant event occurs (like a friend has a baby etc). I have also recently printed out a list of phone numbers and stuck them on the wall at child level so that my daughter can call someone for help if she should ever need to - including our address (in case she has to tell someone and forgets it in a panic), our names, mobiles, grandparent's numbers and of course 000. She knows she is only allowed to call them if something happens to me or her dad. I really hope she never has to! But I feel better knowing that she actually could call someone if she needed to. She likes to dial the numbers when we're making a phone call together, so she knows how to use the phone.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's ever too early to answer questions honestly, I just choose an age appropriate response :) Doesn't worry me/embarass me, it's just information & they want to learn.
Not big on pocket money here, I just expect them to do jobs as part of the family. My daughter will probably want to move to your house haha! :)
Oh tricky questions are always in the car Mum on the Run!!
ReplyDeleteThe sex questions I dealt with with (what I felt was) relative ease. When my three year old started asking questions about periods however, I was stumped! The safety stuff gets me too...if you get a definitive answer on when to introduce those kind of emergency techniques, please let us know :)
ReplyDeleteOh Lord, periods. I forgot about that one... Although when she was four, my eldest did start talking about 'knicker stickers' which I thought was pretty funny.
ReplyDeleteMy husband used to travel a lot. We have a poster on the wall that shows how to call for an Ambulance "incase Mummy is hurt or you can't wake her up". It also has our address on it, and phone numbers for immediate family. Both girls insisted that we had to do a role play when I introduced the poster. I even had to lay on the kitchen floor pretending to be asleep, while they tried to wake me up, then pretended to phone for am ambulance.
ReplyDeleteI've tended to go with waiting for them to ask a question, then trying to answer them simply and honestly. No big elaborate explanations, just a simple answer. We haven't got to periods or how babies get into tummies, but we've covered a lot of the other big questions already.