How did you handle THAT question from your children?

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You know the one I mean. When your six-year-old comes to you and asks ‘Mommy, where did I come from?’ It always seems to happen in the most awkward of places - the library (in a loud voice), in the checkout line at the supermarket, at the school gates with all the other mothers watching (and listening) closely to how you reply or in the doctor’s waiting room - with all those posters about pregnancy glaring down at you! So how did you handle it? Did you reply with complete (but well-censored) honesty about mommy’s tummy or did you chicken out and say ‘I’ll tell you later’? Dads have an advantage here. When asked any awkward question along reproductive lines we can always say ‘Go ask your mother’ - that’s what I did many years ago when our first-born asked me (ok, so I’m a chicken). Mom’s, on the other hand, tend not to chicken out that way. They have the knack of coming up with an explanation which suits the childs’ level of learning. In other words they lie and give that old chestnut about being found under the rose bush in the garden. Or they tell the partial truth that ‘daddy put you in mommy’s tummy’ - but you must chose the time and location of that answer carefully because it is fraught with danger. The next question from an inquisitive child might well be ‘How did he do that?’ - Get out of that one if you can! Some parents believe in complete honesty with children but I think that would depend on the age of the child. Our 12-year-old grand-daughter knows all about the mechanics of reproduction already, partially from school and partially from her mother who saw the right moment and sat her down for THE TALK! She, apparently, wasn’t put out by this at all and simply shrugged and said ‘Ok, but we get all that stuff at school anyway!’