looking back at the notes, i think i'd answered about 98% of the Big Question by about age 2 - i really couldn't help it... the kid was extremely specific with her questions. i do remember tailoring the answers - i distinctly recall saying the body parts fit together like a puzzle. contraception/tubal ligation/vasectomy/feminine hygiene/same-sex parents came up quite early, too.
we have kept her away from broadcast news (very hard for parents who are news junkies), but we do talk about current events as a family - politics/world events are never far from the conversation. the newspaper is always around, but she's not picking it up to read just yet so we haven't had to confront rape or FGM (wow, MoN - that's appalling.)
here i will take a deep breath. as i type this, my heart still pounds and i'm so sorry if this upsets anyone - i truly apologize. the topic came out of the blue, was driven entirely by DD5, and yet it shocked me beyond anything she's ever said before. i am afraid of posting this, but as usual there is literally no one else to talk to - it pretty much feels like we're raising this kid on the moon.
a few weeks ago, she "invented" abortion - she came up with the idea for a surgery that would remove an unplanned foetus. it was a propos of nothing - we were just hanging out, doing our own things and she literally just said it. she was so matter-of-fact, and i won't get into the details, but she basically described what might be considered a D&C with suction.
she said she had been thinking about contraceptive failure and how that would be so scary for a woman, and she wanted to come up with a solution to make sure no one had to have babies they couldn't/wouldn't look after.
the more i think about it, the more i see how it fits in with her personality - she is, at heart, a mechanic - a problem solver, par excellence. she limited the conversation to the mechanical aspects and simply asked me if i thought it would work? i told her that a surgery does exist as she described it and she was very pleased about it. as a kid i remember being thrilled when i "invented" something that was a real thing - it made me feel like i was really thinking things through properly.
so i guess my philosophy, like nearly everyone else, is to just take it as it comes. i realized it was easy to limit exposure, but i couldn't stop the questions that surface naturally. i actively skipped over several chapters when we read Far From the Tree together - i really didn't mean to read that book to her, but she had questions about what i was reading... and when i answered them, she had more. she has a fail-safe, though, i think - she asks only about what she's ready to hear.
i do reserve the right to simply say i'm not ready to answer a particular question - or that it's private - i would likely use that if it's a really personal question, but i've been lucky enough to be spared those... so far!
Last edited by doubtfulguest; 07/26/13 06:54 AM. Reason: syntax errors
