Tuesday, January 31, 2012

There's a line from the Daddy to the Mommy

Today Moira asked how babies are made. This is not a new conversation, and we have plenty of books that explain the idea. Some of them, like Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole, do a good job explaining the actual mechanics in a silly way. Sadly, the euphamisms and hyperbole that the parents in the book use (so the kids can explain it the right way) are a bit above Moira's head.
The babies
This is the second page of her latest book, entitled "Kitty oh Kitty." The text is blurry but it says "They are babies eating and drinking inside they Mama. And then the egg and the sperm and the seed came in from the Daddy."
So we were clearing up this confusion. The egg actually comes from the Mommy, the sperm IS the seed. Then she asked how the Daddy's sperm got into the Mama, and I told her.
She said "No, that's not it." I promised it was. "Well, I know another way." "How is that?" "There is a line from the Daddy to the Mommy."
This is when I had to explain what a metaphor was. That was not what I expected to be the hard part of that conversation. I guess it's one of the hazards of being more open about sex then the kids books are.
Posted by at 9:37 AM
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1 comments:

  1. Hm. I was showing my 3-yo Critter a video of a birth this weekend. We watched it a few times. And then he asked how the baby gets INSIDE the mommy. He wanted to see the video showing that. (Ha, ha.) I had no energy to respond to these questions — I don't even know what I said. Gotta be prepared for the next time, because really I want to be as straightforward about that side of things as we have been about how the baby that's in my belly is going to come out of my belly. How to be straightforward AND understandable AND developmentally appropriate? Oy.

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