What my husband and I have done is tell her, but leaving out the sex part.  So Emma knows that mothers have eggs, and the eggs grow inside them.  That was enough for her for a long time.  I don't think it's a good idea to tell them lies, but they don't need (or necessarily want) to know all the details.

In fact, many years back a little girl on TV made a remark that was funny and cute only because the girl had no clue about where babies come from.  Emma asked me why I laughed, so I said, "She has no idea where babies come from."  She said, "Neither do I."  and some other stuff that I forget.  I thought, Oh, boy, are we going to have "the talk" already?  She's so little!

So I asked her, "Are you asking me where babies come from?  Is that what you want to know?"  But she said no, so I dropped it.

Just yesterday she was talking about how twins are made.  She uses this website called BrainPop, which is educational and very good.  But she had the impression that girls couldn't be identical twins, so I told her she must have misunderstood -- the website used two boys as an example of identical twins and two girls as an example of fraternal twins.

When I explained about the egg dividing after being fertilized, she knew that the father contributed "something" to the process, and without thinking I said, "sperm".

Still, she doesn't know how it gets there.

I don't know if this helps at all, but I can see that little by little she's getting there.  Eventually I'll have to tell the whole story, but at least she has some material to start with.

Thanks this is really helpful.  I'm guess I have to play it by ear.  She knows that women have eggs inside them cos she sort of knows about periods, but I guess her question is why some eggs become babies and some don't.  Not sure how I leave out the sex part.  I think I might look for some professional stuff on the net.  I might start with BrainPop!  Thanks again.

Babies are made in a very special way. When mommies and daddies love each other sometimes the dad can give a special gift to the mommy and the egg will start to grow. Or the other story (i didnt use this one) All woman come with seeds already planted inside and all men are born with the special water. So if a mommy and a daddy "decide to" , daddy can water mommy's seed and love is the sunshine that helps it grow! I had to tell my daughter the truth without the anatomy. She thinks hugs and kisses (like on soap operas) is sex so it was easy.*gasp* but shes getting older now  . . .I'm at a loss.

Our son (4) doesn't quite have the attention span for the whole story -- but the topic came up in an interesting way. My wife wrote about it:  http://arrrgylesocks.mindsay.com/pillow_talk.mws

What I found interesting is that we mentioned the man and a woman without mentioning marriage -- and he was the one who came up with the modifier "but first they have to get married." Nothing unacceptable about what he had learned; just not our style.

Thanks for posting this entry. The replies (as well as your explanation) is helpful for parents everywhere.

-- S

i dont have kids or anything so i dont know 4 sure, but i think ur daughter mite only need the "because thats where babies are made and grow"

 

it wud have kept me quiet 4 a while when i was her age lol