Page 188 - The Intentional Parent

go with something like this: "Mommies and Daddies get together and decide they are going to have a baby. The Daddy puts his sperm by the Mommy's ovum, which is inside the Mommy in a place called her uterus. A baby grows inside the Mommy's uterus and after a while the baby comes out through a special opening called the vagina." Now, all of this is very confusing for even the brightest three- to five-year-old, but it is a start, and the gentle tone of your voice should be enough to begin satisfying your child's curiosity.
You might be wondering why I advocate using words like sperm and ovum and uterus. I have found that it can be very confusing for kids to hear words like egg and stomach in the context of having a baby. Most kids don't ask for tremendous clarification on points of anatomy. As a matter of fact, most, with the exception of natural-born OB-GYN specialists, could care less. Instead, they want to move right to the meaty topics like, "Can I have a baby with you, Mommy?" or, as one rather creative three-year-old once asked me, "Can babies make other babies, and then will they make other babies?" or the ever-popular, "Can I watch you and Daddy make a baby?" The answers to these questions will always be short and sweet: "No, you cannot make a baby with me. That's something only Mommies and Daddies can do," or "No, babies cannot make other babies. Only grown-up Mommies and Daddies can make babies," or "No, you cannot watch me and Daddy make a baby. That is something private that no one else watches.”
As children get older, they will express an interest in knowing some of the details. At some point you will give a brief explanation about how the penis is inserted into the vagina, and that is how the sperm gets to the ovum. This will, in most cases, cause your kids to swear off sex for a very long time or, at the
The Intentional Parent by Peter J. Favaro, Ph.D. 188