We're in the van and the boys are riding in the back seat. For once, Marcus, who is four, has the floor.
Marcus: Mom, can we talk about male and female again? (He had asked about what those words mean a few weeks before and had since asked a couple of times to repeat the conversation, but this was the first time to do so in front of Jackson.)
Me: Sure. What does male mean?
Marcus: boy
Me: What does female mean?
Marcus: girl
Me: What does a male have?
Marcus: a penis
Me: What does a female have?
Marcus: a vagina
I see Jackson's head swivel from Marcus to me and he said: Did you TEACH him that?
Me: Yeah.
Jackson (age 8): WHY?
Me: Well, he asked. (Jackson has never asked about the birds and the bees so I thought I'd offer a little invitation in case he was interested... so I continued:
Me: You can learn a whole lot of things if you just ask. You learn about anything you're curious about.
There was a long pause, during which I thought for sure he was contemplating HOW to ask the big questions.
Jackson: Okay. I've got a question.
Me: (Now I'm rethinking my plan because we ARE in the car with Marcus who is, after all, FOUR. I'm thinking how can I put this conversation on hold after he asks this very important question.... but what I SAY is: Yeah. What's your question?
Jackson: Well, what I want to know is how do they make the bullets come out of Nerf guns so fast.
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