I just try to avoid the issues inherent in this old joke:
Little Suzie came to her mother and asked, "Mommy, where did I come from?"
Her mother took a deep breath and launched into a lengthy and graphic description of how babies are made. At the end of her lecture, she checked in with her daughter to see if she understood everything.
Little Suzie replied, "Huh. My friend Julie came from Omaha."
That's a great one to remember!
Grandson was consumed with anxiety when we got custody at age 5.5, I assumed it was due to life circumstances. Now I suppose his nature exacerbated the problems. He was terrified of going to ice skating lessons the first time because he was afraid of sharks coming up through the ice! When I explained it was an indoor rink with only a few inches of ice, and no water below, he was OK.
He used to work himself into a frenzy from worry. So I'd have him name every thing he was worried about. If it could be explained away, I'd do that. If it was irrational, just naming it seemed to ease the worry. And if it was something too heavy for a child, we tried to teach him to let the adults handle it. Of course, we didn't dismiss his fears, just reaffirmed that some things require the adult action. At 8.5, he's gotten past a lot of worrying but still comes up with some. Periodically he worries about robots that can pass for humans, and how will we tell the difference?
