I love it when my kids ask me questions about the big stuff of life. Yesterday was a cracker. Miss Fab and I were having breakfast; the conversation went something like this...
Miss Fab: Mum, I know about what you do with rubbish. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
Me: Wow, that's good!
Miss Fab: Yes, you put it in a machine and then the machine makes it something new and then you give it to somebody...
Me: Wow, you are clever...
Miss Fab: Mum how do you make stuff?
Me: What kind of stuff??
Miss Fab: You know... stuff!
Me: Do you mean houses, cars, trees, animals, p
eople....?Miss Fab: Yeah, how do you make that kind of stuff?
Me: Well lots of stuff comes from seeds, you know, God puts the life in the seeds and then...
Miss Fab: Oooh, I know about this! We put it in the ground and then we water it and it grows...
Me: Yes and...
Miss Fab: But what about babies? How do you get a baby in your tummy, mum?"
Me (a long pause, thinking thinking... what do I tell her??): Well, babies come from like a seed too...
Miss Fab: No they don't! Babies don't come from seeds!
Me: Well, kind-of seeds, a bit more like a little egg that grows inside the mummy...
Miss Fab: But how do they get there?
Me (oh boy): Um, well the daddies put them there...
Miss Fab (giggling): No they don't, silly! Daddies don't have seeds inside them! And anyway, how do they put them in the mummies??
Me (Veeeryyy long pause, oh boy oh boy): Um they sort of get there when they snuggle...?
Miss Fab (Laughing happily and skipping off): Ohh, thanks mum!
Oh boy, I don't want to be the Queen of Disinformation, but I think the tender age of Four is just a teensy bit young for the bare facts of life! I figure I'll keep it blurry round the edges and add more detail as she gets older. This is uncharted territory! I don't remember asking my parents these kinds of questions this young??!! How about you?
What, when and how do you tell your kids about the Facts of Life?
