If your daughter is in that 13-year-old age group, her body has already reached sexual maturity. Now it’s time to change the topics we want her to understand so she is better prepared for choices she will need to make in her future.

After talking with many young girls in this age group, I am continually amazed at how little they know about the biology of reproduction. For example, they are really surprised to learn that if there is an ejaculation during sexual intercourse, more than 100 million sperm are released into the vagina. When you compare that to only one egg released during ovulation, it’s clear the plan is for the uniting of an egg and sperm if at all possible.

In this anatomy figure, you can appreciate what happens to those 100 million sperm after they enter the vagina. They are swiftly weeded out so that only about 50-100 of the most healthy sperm actually make it to the beginning of the fallopian tube where an egg may be waiting.

Figure from I’m a Girl, Sexual Maturity

What keeps the sperm and egg from meeting every time there is sexual intercourse is that an egg is only ovulated on one day in each menstrual cycle. The egg only waits at the beginning of the fallopian tube for that one day that it is ovulated. If sperm aren’t waiting in the fallopian tube for the egg to arrive, or if intercourse doesn’t happen on that one day, the egg and sperm will not meet.

This information seems like it should be obvious for your daughter to understand, but you might be surprised. Pieces of it have possibly been explained to her, but it might be up to you to put those pieces together.

I suggest that you give her a copy of my book, I’m a Girl, Sexual Maturity, to read on her own. It covers this important topic and other topics for her to understand now that she is sexually mature.