Things to Teach Your Son About His Body
As your son gets older, maybe even before puberty, he will start having a lot more questions about his body. As a parent, we know these conversations are bound to happen at some point, but being prepared can help you communicate with your son better.
Talking to your son about his body doesn’t just refer to puberty or the birds and the bees conversation. It’s also about teaching them about consent, what’s appropriate, and other discussions of that nature. Here are a few things you need to teach your son about his body that isn’t always covered in the parenting books.
Keep Communication Open and Keep it Age Appropriate
Communication is key, especially with your boys. Girls are more likely to come to you with questions when it comes to how their body is changing or when they get their first period. Boys, on the other hand, tend to be a little more reserved. This is one of the reasons why it’s so important to keep communication open. Allow your son to ask you questions and be a resource for him. Make sure to keep the conversations age-appropriate, and tell him that you’ll revisit something when he’s older if the conversation is not appropriate for his age.
Teach your Son About How This Aligns with Family Values
If you don’t believe in premarital sex, then it’s important to teach your son about these family values. Teach your son about these values and how to handle urges he may feel as he grows up. It’s important to not only teach him about this but how it aligns with your family values as well.
Explain What Consent Means to Your Son
Consent is not only an important topic to teach to your son as he enters his teenage years, but even before that. It’s important to teach him about when it’s appropriate for someone to see his private areas, and who should be allowed to do that. It’s also important to teach him about what to do if he doesn’t give consent to someone. While rape and sexual assault are primarily thought of as something that happens to women, men can also experience these too.
Use Resources to Explain Difficult Topics
As a mom, it can sometimes be hard to explain to your son how their body is growing and changing. They may start to develop feelings for girls, and the last person they may want to talk to is their mom. Resources such as books or a trusted male person can be a great resource during this time.
Here are some of the books we used to help teach our son about his body:
Talking with your son about his body is kind of an awkward conversation, especially if you’re a mom. These conversations are ones that are necessary to have with your son, so do the best you can to prepare him now to make him more educated about his body later.
If you have a daughter, don’t forget to check out my post about teaching your daughter about her body.
