I have a first grader who loves to read all kinds of books - including anatomy books. This week I had a meeting with his teacher about a class party and she revealed that he shared his anatomy books with the class recently.
Here's her recap: "We all know that girls love babies, so the girls in class will love this part about where babies come from," he said as he turned quickly to the reproductive section. "Girls have all the eggs they'll ever need - right now. All your eggs are already there - right now!"
I wanted to crawl under the pint-sized table. My husband and I are both scientists so our home is filled with textbooks or reference books, and we try hard to answer the kids' questions as technically as their minds allow.
The teacher wasn't upset, the classmates hadn't gotten upset, my son wasn't upset. The teacher was thankful he'd shared a book that related to their "Jump Rope for Heart" unit in gym class and that he was so excited to share something he found outside of class. I asked if he explained where he thinks babies come from, which he's explained as "in the faLOPian Tubes when the sperms find the eggs", and we laughed that he was so happy to teach his friends about this topic.
This lead to other moms sharing their children's ideas and thoughts about where their siblings have come from:
- Mommy and Daddy wished for a baby so I came
- A Stork dropped off my little sister last winter
- A seed was planted in Mommy's belly and I was born later
What have you shared with your children? What did your parents tell you about where babies come from?
