Each parent knows the time will arrive when they will need to have a certain delicate discussion with their child. There might be a sense of dread and foreboding as you think about having the birds and the bees talk with your kids. A Christian parent knows that it is their duty to teach their child about such things, but they might secretly wish that somehow it could be more like an overnight software update. I’d like to offer a word of counsel as to how to go about having this discussion with your kids.
First of all, it is important to go ahead and correct something I said in the previous paragraph. I referred to a singular discussion. This is one of the most common errors that many parents make in regards to teaching their kids about sex and intercourse. It shouldn’t be a singular discussion. Rather, I would like to propose that you should approach this topic as if you were building a pyramid.
In their early years (probably between 1-3yo) you need to help your child know what their private parts are called and, more importantly, that they are private. Two things are worth underscoring here. First, You ought not to use nicknames or code words for the private parts, as predators commonly will use code words so as deny culpability. If little Jimmy says, “Uncle Bob asked if he could touch my weeny,” Uncle Bob can simply laugh it off and say, “No, I was joking about stealing his hot dog.” Second, you are creating important categories for your little child: private/intimate & public.
This leads nicely into the next stage (roughly 1-5yo), which is to teach them right touching and wrong touching. Your child should learn to not allow anyone to touch his privates, be made to touch anyone else’s privates, nor any sort of showing or being shown privates. And of course, your child should be taught not to do such things to others. There are obvious exceptions, like a doctor’s visit, or a parent wiping a toddler; but those exceptions are very few.
At a more superficial level, your children should not be obligated to give hugs or kisses (intimate actions) to anyone (even close family and friends) if they’d rather not. You need to teach them to kindly and cheerfully say, “No thank you” to such things. Now, if your child is standoffish towards everyone, that can become problematic on a different front. You do want them to be able to show appropriate affection in various relationships. To close family, quick hugs and kisses are generally appropriate. Physical affection towards the general public is what a kind smile is for, or a firm handshake, or a salute. Such things are all actions that are appropriate physical expressions of love, appreciation, or respect; Scripture encourages, and in some instances requires, these sort of respectful displays (Rom. 13:7, 2 Cor. 13:12). This is teaching them to order their loves rightly, while also teaching them that they do not need to nor ought they to give unquestioned physical affection to anyone who asks. That’s just setting yourself up for bigger headaches come their teen years.
After laying this groundwork, make sure to frequently reiterate these principles (6-10yo). After the foundation is laid, it is important to have a hawk-eyed readiness for taking advantage of circumstances that can provide the next layer of instruction. Here are some examples of teachable moments: perhaps it is someone wearing a skimpy bikini at the pool, or a couple at the playground who really ought to get a hotel room, or maybe it is the transgender barista at a coffee shop. Those all are a “buy low sell high” opportunities to invest in your child’s understanding of sexuality. Explain why the immodest women is not necessarily ugly, but she is displaying her beauty in a manner that cheapens her beauty. Point out that the unmarried couple who can’t keep their hands off each other are disregarding the importance of marriage vows.
Which reminds me of something I probably ought to have stated earlier on. Your marriage ought to be the model for your children to understand what intimacy is for. Your children ought to see both husband and wife pursuing and giving physical affection to each other. Kids need to understand that mom & dad have promised to only be “smoochy” with each other ’til death does them part. Explain what covenant vows are, and what you as their parents have vowed to each other. This really can be explained and exhibited pretty early on.
Now, as they near puberty, you need to be deliberately pursuing your child with information they will soon need to know and be aware of. The way you ought to approach this is not a one time information dump. If you read through the Proverbs after dinner you’ll come to the adulterous woman passage, and there you go, a segue into discussions about why intimate touch is only for one’s spouse. But never teach that without also explaining why intimacy is so good and glorious when it is kept within marriage, but quite dangerous outside it. There will be discussions that can be had as a family (like the aforementioned study of Proverbs); but other conversations ought to be more gender (and age) specific. Don’t explain menstruation and copulation to the toddler. Rather, as you intentionally discuss things with each individual child, it is crucial, in fact I think it might be the most crucial thing I will say in this post, to let them know two things. First, you ought to let them know that there are more things they will soon need to know but don’t need to know yet; and secondly, if they ever have any questions about anything they see or hear they are always welcome to ask you or your wife about it. With daughters it’s wise for a father and mother to be present for such moments.
Eventually, for most kids, sometime before puberty you will have furnished them with a sufficiently robust understanding of both the purpose and function of their sexuality. They need to understand that the desires which they have in that direction are not evil, in fact they are made by God and are to be enjoy unto His glory. It is the misuse of those desires, or directing them in unlawful ways (fornication, porn, homosexual, adultery, masturbation, etc.) which is sinful.
Thus, in their prepubescent days you are laying out a pyramid of understanding. Think of the capstone as their wedding night. You are preparing them to know their spouse. They should therefore understand what goes where, where babies come from, and why that should only take place in the circumference of marriage vows. Additionally, this means that your child should also realize, from pretty early on, that their future spouse is probably alive out there. Your kids should hear you pray for their future husband or wife. They should understand that their sexual desires are all for that end. Regularly blessing your children with Scriptural blessings provides a biblical fence around their fertility, “Children, may you be like abundant olive trees around my table.” They should have heard you pray for your “children’s children”, meaning their children.
All of this should be done with love for your child, their future spouse, and your future grandchildren. You are a character in your child’s love story, so serve everyone involved by making it the sort of story that glorifies God all the way through. Approach these conversations with a matter of fact manner. In all this, it’s only awkward if you make it awkward.
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