A Child’s Understanding of Reproduction and Sex Chromosomes

by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Posted May 31, 2007 in DNA in General

Janet at Adventures in Ethics and Science often features her children’s (sprogs’) drawings of nature and science. Today, she asked:

What do you find most challenging or scary about talking about science with kids?

For me, I find it most difficult to explain things at the appropriate level for a four-year-old. It’s hard to figure out what exactly my son understands and needs to know.

For example, he has a number of human body books, some with more details than others. After going through the Robert Winston Body book, he drew the following picture today that included a sperm and egg each labeled with the letter X (upper left quadrant of the circle below). I’ll do the proud parent stretch and assume those are X chromosomes.

Yesterday, he drew a similar picture that included a depiction of the uterus and ovaries. Thankfully, he hasn’t asked any more questions like how the sperm and the egg meet and I’m not sure how I’ll explain it! I might just refer to the books and say that if it isn’t in there, we’ll talk about it another time. Some parents, though, literally tear these types of pages out of their children’s books. To me, that’s scarier than trying to explain it to them.

Are there any science topics you avoid discussing with your children?

Tags: kids, children, science, education, genetics, sex, genes, dna

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