Let me Tell You About the Birds and the Bees...

Last night, our daugthers were watching an old episode of Emergency on DVD. The five-year-old has become enamored with lots of the shows from the 70's--Wonder Woman, Emergency, and cartoons like Tom and Jerry, and The Superfriends.

In the Season 1 episode Brushfire, paramedics John Gage and Roy Desoto deliver a baby inside a house that is in the path of the brushfire. My daughter has watched this episode at least half a dozen times, but suddenly last night it peaked her curiosity about the origins of babies. She turned to her father and asked, "How do babies get in mommys' bellies?"

That was when I walked into the room with a handful of laundry and my anxious husband gave me a strange look. "What?" I asked. "I'm not ready for this," he replied. "Not ready for what?" I tucked my jeans into the dresser. "She just asked me where babies come from." I reminded him that our son was 5 or 6 when he first asked about the birds and the bees too. Then I chuckled and left the room.

I have no idea what he said to our daughter, though I know he explained that when babies are first created they are as small as a the point of a pin, because all she goes around talking about now is how tiny babies are when they first start out.

I followed up my husband's explanation with a bedtime story about a young prince and princess who got married and decided to have a baby. I gave as much detail as I thought her five-year-old mind could understand and answered any questions she had. For now, she seems satisfied.

We will go through this at least once more--when our youngest becomes curious enough about babies to ask the same questions. Maybe by then I'll have a better explanation than my prince and princess story. If not, I guess that one will have to do.

Cheryl