One of the many joys and responsibilities of parenting is that we get to be there to help guide our children as they learn and develop. At two and three years old, they start to wonder about the mysteries of the world. As parents, we have the immense privilege of answering some of the big, eternal questions that children pose.
Just for fun, I present here an unembellished transcript of a real conversation that took place between my lovely wife and my recently-potty trained son in a Wal-Mart ladies’ room. For some of you, this might bring back memories of a similar conversation. For others, this is a glimpse into your future.
Son: Mom, why don’t you stand up to pee?
Mom: God made women different. We have to sit down to pee.
Son: Why?
Mom: We have to.
Son: (looking down with great concern) Mom! Where’s your penis?
Mom: I don’t have one.
Son: (with growing alarm) Why not? What happened?
Mom: God made women and men different. Girls don’t have penises.
Son: What? What do you have down there?
Mom: (softly – maybe too softly in retrospect) A vagina.
Son: A dinosaur?
Mom: No, no…
Son: You’ve got a dinosaur down there?
Mom: No, a vagina. Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.
Son: But why?
I believe it went on with a series of “whys” and “becauses” until my lovely wife managed to extricate them from the aforementioned Wal-Mart ladies’ room. Of course, I wasn’t there to hear this first hand. But from what I’ve heard, the lady in the next stall got more entertainment than she ever imagined she would when she went shopping that day.
That was an interesting conversation between the mom and the son. Children always have lots of why’s and you have to answer all their why’s, failure to so will cause tantrums and wails. My daughter is still a toddler and I cant wait to see her utter her first word.
@Recent parent, I am in agreement with you about children having lots of never ending questions. I remember one day my son asked me why dogs have to raise their behind leg while peeing and not just stand like him, while trying to explain to him why dogs cant do that, the explanation brought in new why’s lol, like why is it that he can walk on his hands like a dog and a dog cant walk on two legs etc. Thats the beauty of being a parent.