Sadie was always a very curious little kid, interested in animals and science, and she loves to read, so I got her the first Celebrate Your Body book ($9) when she was 8 years old. She carried it everywhere with her, slept with it, and she even brought it to school in third grade, when she was 9. I actually got a phone call from her teacher that she was "showing pictures of vaginas to her classmates" (it was a diagram showing how to use a tampon). That sparked an important conversation about how some people feel really embarrassed talking about body stuff, but I kept flooding her with the message that it's totally normal and totally awesome that her body is growing and changing. But from that point on, we agreed that body talk was for families and best talked about at home.
This book helped spark some other really essential conversations about the changes her body would go through. It covered all the basics, including how her breasts would grow and when to start wearing a bra, pubic hair, vaginal discharge, what age most girls get their periods (it's between 9 and 16, by the way), menstrual products, PMS, the importance of taking care of yourself through sleep, exercise, and eating a healthy, balanced diet, and also body positivity and why she shouldn't diet (this was my fave part!).
I got Sadie the Celebrate Your Body Book 2 ($12) when she was 9 because she was just so interested. It covers the same topics as the first book, but goes into a little more detail. I was excited to see that she was so open to talking about this. She'd ask me to put her to bed just about every night so we could read the book together and "have girl talk." Yep, that's also when she finally asked the question, "How does the baby get inside your belly?" Sadie knew more about sex and bodies at 9 years old than many adults I know.
The most important thing is that I didn't act nervous or secretive about any of this. I'm not going to lie — it was hard talking about some of this (like the time she asked, "How many times have Daddy and you had sex?"). But with every question and comment, I promised to be open and honest, and that set the tone for what her first period would be like.
