"The Talk"

So Hannah is 7, she'll be 8 next month, and sometimes things come up in conversation and she doesn't quite understand it so she'll ask. I'm glad that she asks, but there are definitely times when my answer is simply, "We'll talk about that when your older because that's not something you need to worry about now." And usually I'll give her a really quick response to satisfy her curiosity. And she understands that and never presses for more. They know that they can ask me any and everything (at least I hope they know) because I drill that in their head, but they also understand that some things are just not meant for little ones to hear, not yet. So on to the "talk"...a couple months ago we learned some about worms. We learned that the reason they stay beneath the dirt is because if exposed to direct light they become paralyzed. Now we are learning about chicken eggs and have been candling our eggs on occasion to see if they are fertilized. Well Hannah cannot get the words paralyzed and fertilized right to save her life. She keeps saying she hopes all of our eggs are paralyzed, and I keep correcting her and saying, "You mean fertilized." They know that if the eggs are fertilized then they have the ability to produce a chick, but she finally asked me how the eggs become fertilized. Our curriculum just says that fertile eggs are obtained only when roosters are kept with the laying hens. That wasn't enough for her. She wanted to know exactly how it becomes fertile. Well I don't know how chicken eggs become fertilized, but I know how human eggs become fertilized. So I sit her down and start explaining the whole menstrual thing, not in great detail, but enough for her to understand that at this point in a woman's life they have the ability to produce a baby. But then I go on to say that the only way a woman's eggs can turn into a growing baby is if the man fertilizes her eggs with what we call sperm. Ok, I know some of you may be thinking, "Donielle, she's only 7!" But as soon as I was done explaining she said, "I can't wait for the Easter Bunny to come tonight!" She still has her innocence!