Sex play and exploration with peers is common. Also, the use of bathroom humour is very common. It is very important that children are taught the proper body part names, socially shared words for elimination and that babies are made by a father and mother together. At around the age of 4 to 8 years, children s interests change to the how and why questions as opposed to the where focus of younger children. Magical thinking and curiosity continue with respect to sexual differences, pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding.
Parents can expect children to question their own sexual behaviours.
At this age, children develop strong same sex friendships and show an interest in male and female roles which are often stereotypical. Appropriate parental teaching should include a description of sexual intercourse in concrete language with literal examples. The vagina is a tunnel and the penis slides into the vagina to put the sperm there. Children will likely require repetition of this information on many occasions. Remember, they will take what they need from the information, digest it and come back to you with more questions.