Almost every parent is smug in the assurance that they’ll know exactly how to handle this question (or some variation of it) when the time comes. Believe me, I thought the same, and smirked to myself when I read about mothers and fathers stumbling over such a basic question. But when it comes to explaining things to a young child, it’s not so easy, is it? Alyssa (who’ll be five on October 27th) has asked about the origin of babies in the past, but never so direct or at such length until this evening. Just a bit ago she came to me and the following conversation ensued (FYI, I hope it doesn’t happen again, at least not anytime soon. I’d rather clean out some AC filters than try to come up with straightforward answers that can be processed by a five year old!)
ALYSSA: Mommy, where did Ryan come from?
ME: He came from me, from inside my belly.
ALYSSA: How did he get there? (Dan’s crack about Waiting‘s “slut magic” line came to mind, and I had to hold back laughter as I formulated a response)
ME: Well, Daddy and I decided we wanted a baby, so we had some special, private time together and decided to have a baby.
ALYSSA: How did Ryan come out?
ME: Do you remember what a vagina is?
ALYSSA: *points to my chest*
ME: No, those are breasts. This is a vagina. *gesture* Inside the vagina is a special area where babies are able to come out.
ALYSSA: Did he fall out?
ME: Not quite… You know how you have to “push” when you go to the bathroom? Well, that’s what Mommies have to do in order to get the babies out.
ALYSSA: Oh. *walks off*
I’m not sure how well I handled that, overall, but it’s hard to come up with answers on the fly as your brain is scrambling for age-appropriate explanations that aren’t going to confuse or mislead! She seemed satisfied, and I was as honest as possible, given her age, so I guess that’s all that matters? LOL.
My name is Jenn, and I'm 27 years old. I'm happily married to my best friend and soulmate, Daniel. Together we have a six year old daughter named 
Name: Alyssa
Name: Ryan
hey i think you did a good job!! i wouldn’t even know what i would have said. i always wondered what I would say. I wonder what brought her asking on?
.-= nichole´s last blog ..blogging in my head =-.
I think it’s always best to go with the honest, but not too detailed, answer. I remember when my cousin’s son asked my cousin about where babies came from, and there was this whole thing about storks or something? Then came *all* the questions about “But how did they get our address?” “How do they know which babies go where?” “How come X and Y (my cousin’s younger kids) look exactly like me? How’d they do that?” Yeah… Good fun.
At least she didn’t ask something like “Well, how can *I* have a baby?” or ask for details
I think that’d be an entire different cup of tea entirely!
.-= Michelle´s last blog ..I wanna see the sun rising anywhere but here =-.
Sounds reasonable to me! I LOLed at the “slut magic” vs. “special private time together” though!
.-= Holly´s last blog ..A retina-bleeding post =-.
You did great! Considering I didn’t know I had a vagina until 5th grade…. She’s already much better off than I was. Haha.