Sex Education

Elizabeth walked into the kitchen today. “Look at my babies,” she proclaimed proudly, as she held up a padded basket with two beanie babies covered with little fabric scrap blankets.

“Oh, they’re beautiful,” I exclaimed. “You have a baby hamster and a baby seahorse.”

“That’s because I’m a seahorse,” Elizabeth answered.

Thinking this was one of those precious times when I could slip in some elementary sex education, I asked her, “How could you have a baby hamster if you’re a seahorse?”

Hand on hip and a boy-you’re-dumb look on her face, she replied, “Well, you had boys AND girls didn’t you?”

“Well, yes, but boys are human beings just like girls are.”

“No they’re not. They’re animals!” she proclaimed, and tromped off, basket in hand, into the other room.

How does one counter such insight in a four-year-old?

second place in the Active Emotion Contest, June 2005