When parenting stops being polite and starts getting real. That’s what I posted with a photo of two books we just received from Amazon to help us answer some of the important questions Stella has started to ask us. And, to facilitate conversations about topics that haven’t even come up yet.
Surprisingly, not a lot of questions came up when I was pregnant with Margot. At three and a half, Stella’s explanation that her baby sister was “going to open [my] door and walk down the stairs” to get out of my tummy was hilarious, adorable, and accurate enough that it didn’t warrant more accurate or specific details at the time. Still, I’ve been proud to use and teach her words like vagina instead of anything cutesy.
In the last year or so, she has really started to notice and make remarks about bodies, especially hers and mine. She certainly learned a lot about babies and breastfeeding thanks to her little sister. And she often asks me why I look a certain way compared to her. I do my best to explain things as matter-of-factly and simply for her to understand.
Continue reading “Talking about bodies and babies with a five-year-old”