Questions Children Ask and How to Answer Them

This book is so misleading and provide many unprofessional and inappropriate answers.In what universe is it ok to tell your 4 year old that it is ok that other child touch your genitals just because he is a child?!! Kids at that age do not have the ability to distinguish the very specific difference in others’ age and they tend to generalize the rule to every other person. Then how can you justify your child that “I told you it’s ok only when the other person is a child” ? Kids at that age can not recognize and identify the differences so specifically. I really wish people who read this book use their own knowledge and logistics instead of listening to these misguiding advises.

Very helpful.

I consider myself a pretty liberated parent, but this book had me nauseas. The sections on sex were VERY graphic, and way more than a 6-8 OR 8-11 year old child need to know, in mine and my husband's opinion. Some of the answers seemed totally unnecessary and inappropriate for the age group, and if there is any innocence left in your child's mind, this book will certainly take care of that. The author even seems to ENCOURAGE masturbation and sex by talking about how wonderful it feels; not that those are bad things, but do we really need to plant the idea and give our kids the thumbs up at 6 years old? One sentence in the book actually tells boys it's ok for a four-year-old girl to touch his penis. WOW - Not in 'my book'! I know that we're given the option to pick n' choose which answers we want to share with our kids, but I really don't know why anyone would want to tell their kids some of these things. Everyone I shared this book with summed it up in one word: DISGUSTING.Oh, the rest of the book looked like it was probably helpful. We disapproved of the sex answers so much though, we sent it back before we even got a chance to read the other questions.

A coworker of mine uses this as her "manual" and recently lent me her copy. This is a pretty good guide to start with in case you encounter some difficult questions you're not sure how to tackle. The suggested answers are really meant to serve as a way to encourage a healthy & open dialogue. Obviously you need to tailor it to your own beliefs. I like that the answers are divided into 4 age groups: 2-4, 4-6, 6-8, 8-11. I also like that Stoppard explains the psychology behind the questions being asked. For example, knowing that "the world of a young child is very self-centered and a simple answer will satisfy his curiosity" will spare a parent from agonzing about what details to share on a sensitive topic.There are 37 questions in all, divided into 5 main categories:Questions About Sex and Birth (includes Sexual Orientation, Masturbation, Puberty, Nudity, Contraceptives, Genitaila)Questions About the Unknown (includes Death, God, Religion, Darkness)Questions About Relationships (includes Divorce, Adoption, School, Friendships, Siblings, Step-parents)Questions About Differences (includes Races, Disabilities, Vegetarian Lifestyle)Questions About Safety & Health (includes Strangers, Abuse, Violence, Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking, AIDS)Another reviewer wrote a critique about Stoppard's suggested answers on bullying. When I read that section, this is what I found: "For Ages 6-8: You know Mommy and Daddy don't approve of violence - punching and hitting - but bullies are bad; they must be stopped. So this is what you do next time: give the bully one warning and say if he attacks you again you'll hit him back, then go and tell your teacher what happened. Tell me, too, as soon as possible. And if he does hit you again, give him one big swipe, and then quickly go and tell your teacher. Don't try to hit back if there's more than one bully. Don't worry, your teacher knows how to deal with bullies, so I promise nothing bad will happen if you tell." For ages younger than 6, she does not mention ever to hit the bully. For ages 8-11, she gives a lengthier explanation about how bullies are probably very unhappy underneath and bullying is a way to pretend they aren't unhappy. She further writes "It isn't a good idea to try to hit back more than once - this will just lead to a fight, which bullies like. The best thing is to tell your teacher about it - ask a friend to come with you for moral support." In Stoppard's guidelines, she writes "Before he turned nine, I used to tell my son to give the bully one warning and then hit back, but a child shouldn't do this if faced with several others. A child can ask a trusted older child to help deal with bullies, but you should always report bullying to the school, even if it is happening outside the school premises, and ask for the staff's help to discipline bullies, in a discreet way so as to protect your child." She explains more in the section so I disagree with the other reviewer about this advice being outdated.At first glance, this book looked like it covers a lot but there are actually many more questions Stoppard suggests could be brought up but doesn't necessarily provide any guidelines for you. Maybe a second book is needed =] Anyway, this is still a pretty good guide to start with.

This is a really good book to help parents either answer difficult questions or to use as a guide when discussing areas which you think your child may need help with. There are different suggested responses depending on the age of your child. There could be a little more on friendship issues, particularly for the older child - as this is an area where a lot of children need help. I was surprised at how explicit some of the sex education stuff is - but having said that it is written very sensitively and I think is probably more appropriate to the way children are brought up these days than when I was growning up!

Used during delivery of Speakeasy Programme. Parents during the coursed will look through this and others that I use to help them to discuss SRE with their children. many parents will choose to buy for themselves

This is my third copy of this book! I've ised it with each of my children and found it very useful. It sets the tone just right depending on the age of the child asking the question.

Miriam Stoppard does a book with age related answers which is much better for the job i needed to do.

A little disappointed with the questions. Expected a wider variety of questions children throw at you everyday. Questions from the book can mostly be answered with care and common sense. I was hoping for the random questions kids say that could throw a parent or teacher.