kimilseung

It was my ten year olf, who first introduced me to the term and meaning of 'cis-gender'. Kids get it real quick, not a problem for them, its not going against subliminally learned expectations.

dc koop

I could explain to a class that people of the same sex sometimes fall in love with each other, that the love is real in every way and it is part of our everyday world.

I'd have to back off if a 12 year old whose already been educated in the birds and bees bit suddenly asked "well how do people like them do it together"?

Better duck or be very prepared when you get into such discussions with kids because you never know what's coming next. But I'm not a teacher and happy not to be.

Wintersong

"That's really nobody's business other than the 2 consenting adults involved."

There ya go

kodokan

My son was 9 or 10 when he asked me 'I've been wondering... those men that have boyfriends... boyfriends that they have sex with... exactly what do they DO to have sex?'

You just tell them - it's only facts and information. The key is to answer what they're asking, in a simple and straightforward manner, check if they have any follow-up questions, and not go all free-range about having the entire conversation in one go and telling them things they haven't even remotely thought of yet, rather than perhaps over several years as they age.

(Note: this only works with your first child. After that, you end up suddenly deep in conversations like I did the other day with my 12 year old daughter, who was airily informing me ALL about the people on the internet whose hobby it is to collect every possible sexually-transmitted disease. She got that little gem from her brother. Who got it from his high school Health class.)

Honestly, you're much more uncomfortable about sexual conversations than any kid I know!

kodokan

I only learned that term this weekend, when someone used it further up the thread and I had to go and look up what it meant!

Is it pronounced with an S or K sound at the beginning, do you know? I'm guessing S.

scrubbedexpat099

Just show them this.

Wintersong

Pronounced 'sis' - as in chemical isomers.

Cis is latin for 'on this side', vs. trans which is latin for 'on the far side'

kodokan

Thank you!

Leslie

Later on they did. It didn't turn out well for them.

BEVS

Without reading everything, which will be a mistake I expect, little Sandra and her friends won't think anything. There may be a bit of curiosity and a couple of questions maybe, but it will be a non-issue unless of course someone makes it an issue for them.

Kids are flexible . It is adults that become rigid.

dc koop

Which only serves to make the child even more curious than ever. You cant get away with resorting to mystery as an answer. Kids will only think less of you if you do and what's the use of explaining the heterosexual act to a child as part of it's education if you're going to try to pull the wool over it's eyes when it comes to the homosexual side of sex ?

dc koop

To be honest I just wouldn't know how little Sandra and her friends would react if they happened to see little Johnny's "thing" They may even know that little Johnny has the same "thing" as their baby brothers so the question would be asked of parents and teachers as to why little Johnny was using their bathroom ?

BEVS

No it wouldn't. It's not something kids make a fuss about unless the adults around them make a fuss.

Erm.... have you ever been in a female loo? We do not communally pee into a collective large bucket, and we don't drop our drawers before entering a cubicle. TBH , I would have no idea today if a transgender female was in the same toilet block as me. anymore than I would have known when I was a girl.

As for boys toilets. I was rather expect said transgender kid would simply use the cubicle reserved for poo and wee, rather than trying to sit in the urinals.

As for being inquisitive , said kids would probably ask the kid if they were curious.


Really. It is a non issue.

dc koop

I'm a parent myself. We discussed the birds and bees with our only child, a daughter when she was twelve with the aid of a very nice book which explained in a very nice, straightforward way how procreation took place. No problem there, We never discussed homosexuality as there was no need to but if she had asked how gay people do it... sorry, I'm lost when it comes to answering that kind of question from a twelve year old but she would have deserved an answer only my wife and I weren't capable of it.

dc koop

Well when my daughter was in first grade she announced one day that she now knew that boy's had different things than girls did. On questioning she informed us that the boys bathroom door had been left wide open and she had seen a boy using the urinal as she was passing by. Unlike grown ups kids seem to be very careless about personal privacy in bathrooms