A MUM told how she had to have “the talk” with her five-year-old son after she heard him mimicking a female orgasm.
Australian Carly McTavish shared that her sons, 5 and 8, were playing outside with a friend when she heard the alarming sound.
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Writing for website MammaMia, Carly said she was within earshot of her children’s games when she heard her son recreating sexual sounds that are common in pornography.
She said: “Then I heard it. The sound of a high-pitched, over dramatised orgasm crescendo which disturbingly sounded like it was coming from my youngest son.”
The mum said she could hear the laughs of his older brother and friend in response to the noises.
Despite wanting to crawl into a hole, she decided to step outside and face the situation.
The parent strolled out and nonchalantly asked what the “funny sound” was that he was making.
The eight-year-old lads locked eyes and tried not to laugh and eventually her sons’ friend admitted that the sound meant “S.E.X.”
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Carly then asked what her children understood by the word “sex”, to which her eight-year-old replied that it was “when you have a girlfriend”.
At this point the mum-of-two realised she would have to have “the talk” with her children far earlier than expected.
She was shocked that they may have been exposed to explicit material, particularly as they didn’t have their own iPads and the family had strict child safety settings at home.
The writer spoke to Dr Joy Townsend, who suggested parents should speak to their children about sex far earlier than they have traditionally.
Dr Joy said: “Children are so wonderfully curious, and the younger a child is the less stigma and shame they will hopefully have attached to sexuality when it really counts.
“There is a saying within the sex education community, inspired by a free resource for Australian parents developed by WA Health, which is ‘talk soon, talk often’.
“The earlier we engage with our children about conversations that may be potentially uncomfortable – like masturbation or pornography – the easier and more productive those conversations will be.”
Later on, Carly approached the topic again with her five-year-old, asking where he’d heard the sounds he made.
He replied that he’d heard the “big boys” making the noises in the line for the bus on the way home after school.
After ascertaining that that was her son’s only contact with those sounds – and that the older boys hadn’t shown him anything on their phones – Carly was relieved.
But the incident prompted her and her husband to have a serious discussion with both boys about sex.
She said: “As parents we openly and vulnerably shared our own values about sex, pleasure, sexuality, and consent with our children, which was followed by a series of hilarious questions and candid conversations.”
Carly added: “Perhaps the most valuable part of this parenting experience was that these conversations we were so hesitant to have could now be regularly revisited and built upon throughout their journey to becoming young men.”
