Almost every parent in this world would have faced such question from their toddlers – “How is a baby born?” or “How did I come to this world?” Especially, when the kid is about to have a younger sibling or someone in the family or friends had a baby recently, the question is sure to be asked. The parents will either come up with a creative story to answer this question or just try to avoid the question by diverting them. By doing so, we only make them more curious about the matter and so would be probing more questions to you. We, as parents, think that the toddlers are too young to know about these. But, when they are old enough to ask such questions, they are definitely old enough to get answers for these.

How is a baby born?
How is a baby born?

Just as you hear the question from them, ensure that you don’t show any kind of discomfort, shame or embarrassment. In spite of being a progressive parent, this reaction might be automatically transferred to the child indirectly, making them feel guilty for asking such questions or acquire unwanted curiousness to know more about it. If you are not prepared well to answer this question, you may very well tell the kid that we can discuss about it a little later. But ensure to answer your kid back, even before the kids remind you of that.

Before answering the question, it is first important to understand what exactly the kids wanted to know. Sometimes as parents, we jump off to wrong conclusions and take the question in a wrong format. For example, a kid might wanted to understand how the baby inside the tummy will come out into this world and not about how the baby is made. So, it is very important for the parents to understand what exactly your kid is asking. In order to engage the kid in the conversation, you may first ask them how they think it happens. It would be interesting to learn their perspective, on one hand. On the other hand, it will be useful to adopt the same words or language of the kid to make them understand better.

While answering the question, just ensure that you only convey the true facts to them. Especially, use the right terminologies like vagina, uterus or womb, sperm, etc. This does not mean that you can give more information than what the kids wanted to know, especially the act of sex. Almost all the toddlers are aware of the planting process and seeds. You can say the sperms contain seed and they join with the mommy’s egg to form a baby in the uterus or womb. You can also tell that the babies normally come out of uterus through the vagina. Often babies are confused about stomach and uterus, do not forget to tell them the difference. You can also show appropriate pictures to help the kid understand the process of pregnancy and fetal development. There are lot of picture books that help both the parents and kids in this aspect.

Last, but not the least, be patient until you are sure that you have answered all questions from your kid. Do not interrupt your kid, when he or she is asking more questions. More importantly, tell them to come back to you if they have more questions and not to feel embarrassed about it.

Happy Parenting!!!

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