A David Short...
Jun 22, 2009Friday evening the family was all sitting around the dining room table eating sorbet after a family walk around the harbor. David, pretty much out of nowhere (which is not so unusual) asks, “So how does the egg get from the man’s mouth into the woman’s tummy to make a baby?”
Jim asked, “Where did you learn about eggs?”
David shrugged his shoulders. I think I actually explained rudimentary reproduction to them over a year ago when they were homeschooled. However, I never detailed the sperm’s journey to the egg. I couldn’t believe he remembered but he also seemed a little young for playground reproductive talk, but you never know.
I said, “That’s actually not all that inaccurate, David.”
“But the egg doesn’t come out of the man’s mouth,” said Jim.
Then, light seem to glow from somewhere deep inside of David. He looked at me with that oh so clever twinkle in his eye, “Does it come from,” (dramatic pause) “this spot?” He said, indicating his penis.
Never one to shy away from the truth of reproduction, I replied, “Yes, David, that is where it comes from.”
David, the light inside him now exploding into unbounded joy said, “That is so AWESOME!!!”
“But wait, how does the egg get from there into the woman’s mouth to make the baby?”
“We’ll talk about that later, David,” said Jim.
Reader Comments (5)
Oh, my . . . what can I say? Let's hope he gets distracted by other stuff and doesn't think about that till years later . . .
Actually, I probably would have spilled the beans to him. Jim is somewhat more conservative about these things than I am. And, I would prefer him to find out the facts from us rather than on the playground, where disinformation can be quite rampant...
But chances are, he has already forgotten about it!
Ah yes, I recall this conversation. Not dissimiliar to this recounting though there was no 'mouth' involved in the discussion. Now my daughter was a completely different story. She wanted no parts of the discussion about anything remotely having to do with the body. So I left the "book" I had purchased on a shelf in the kitchen mixed with the leisure reading and comic books that the kids liked to read when eating breakfast or lunch, figuring she'd look at when she was ready - and then come to me with questions.
It took a long time!!! But about a year later I noticed the book was put back in a different location than where it previously lived in the stack. Several months later the idle question came, then another, until we were able to 'chat.'
That gentle approach worked wonders and sparked many a good conversation through out her middle school and high school years, even into today.
Bravo Mom!
What book did you happen to get, Athanasia. We have several science books with rudimentary explanations, which was how I approached it in the past.
Well done Anastasia, and all the best Laura and Jim; and all parents. God bless.