The girls have gotten more and more curious about things around them lately. The questions have gotten harder and harder to explain too. It's not just your "what's that?" or "where are they going?" anymore. I decided right away it's useless to brush their questions off, lie to them or make up nice stories just to get them to stop asking. I love listening to their questions and seeing what little things in the world they are noticing that quite honestly, I'm more often than not, taking for granted. Instead they ask, "what does his sign say?" about the homeless man on the off ramp and then following up with, "he doesn't have a home? He needs money and no one is giving him any?" Man, did that catch me off guard the first time! (In case you're wondering how I answer the homeless questions I read them his sign, explain that he is asking for help because he may not have enough money, a home etc. Then I tell them one of the best things we can do for him is to say a prayer and then we all say a little prayer together that this person finds the help that they need.)
Anyway, after cousin Norah was born last week, I was in the car with the girls and we started talking about going to visit Norah. Lucy all of a sudden said, "Mom, how does the baby get out of the tummy?" Uh, what did my 3 year old just ask about?!? I was totally unprepared for this one. I gave myself one chance to stall by saying, "the baby comes out of the mommy's tummy and we can talk more about it when you're a big kid." No dice. Lucy responded with, "Ok when I'm a big kid we can talk about it. But, how does the baby get out of the tummy, Mom?" I knew there was no avoiding this and I had 2 options: either go with the "natural" explanation of childbirth and risk totally confusing them/opening up a huge can of worms or explaining a csection (their own birth story) and risk freaking them out before they even turn 4. I went with what I thought was the safe option and simply said, "The mommy pushes the baby out...like a poop...but the baby doesn't come out of the same place!" I looked in the rear view mirror to see 2 little confused faces. Lucy seemed to process things quickly and followed up with, "when I'm a big kid can I see pictures?" After I said we would have plenty of time to look at pictures when they're older she sort of shrugged it off and moved onto a new topic. Guess that sufficed and no one seemed too traumatized by it all.
I'm glad I went with that version because as Kevin pointed out later, it would have been traumatic to go with "the Dr. cuts the mommy open and rips the baby out" version. We'll save that story for Kindergarten...
Anyway, after cousin Norah was born last week, I was in the car with the girls and we started talking about going to visit Norah. Lucy all of a sudden said, "Mom, how does the baby get out of the tummy?" Uh, what did my 3 year old just ask about?!? I was totally unprepared for this one. I gave myself one chance to stall by saying, "the baby comes out of the mommy's tummy and we can talk more about it when you're a big kid." No dice. Lucy responded with, "Ok when I'm a big kid we can talk about it. But, how does the baby get out of the tummy, Mom?" I knew there was no avoiding this and I had 2 options: either go with the "natural" explanation of childbirth and risk totally confusing them/opening up a huge can of worms or explaining a csection (their own birth story) and risk freaking them out before they even turn 4. I went with what I thought was the safe option and simply said, "The mommy pushes the baby out...like a poop...but the baby doesn't come out of the same place!" I looked in the rear view mirror to see 2 little confused faces. Lucy seemed to process things quickly and followed up with, "when I'm a big kid can I see pictures?" After I said we would have plenty of time to look at pictures when they're older she sort of shrugged it off and moved onto a new topic. Guess that sufficed and no one seemed too traumatized by it all.
I'm glad I went with that version because as Kevin pointed out later, it would have been traumatic to go with "the Dr. cuts the mommy open and rips the baby out" version. We'll save that story for Kindergarten...
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