why do 'old school' parents refer to 'it' as 'the birds & the bees'... ?   

sort of. If they're old enough to ask the question they're old enough for an honest and straight answer. But the answer has to be tailored to their understanding which might sound hilarous to an adult. Mario try explaining being in love to someone who hasn't experienced it yet.

...what a good topic.! I've had to explain it to my neice..&& my grandparents interrupted and said.."just tell her birds and the bees"...so she said what they do auntie...I said they played around to much..&& they had babies..and she says oh..im going to play with my boyfriend..(imaginary].:::so i decided there is no good way to put it anymore because the kids today minds are so far out there.

maybe they want to relate it with honey cos its so sweet..

Since I have absolutely no idea how the birds and the bees do "it", I guess that I can't use that as an example. Besides, I really do not understand how the birds and the bees got to be the example in the first place, especially since nobody ever sees them doing "it". Why wouldn't you pick a more obvious example that children would encounter on a more frequent basis, such as dogs or cats or horses or something. Alright, maybe not horses, because that might terrify the girls and make the boys seem extremely inferior, but you know what I mean.