book for 3-4 year old about where babies come from

[MaryTheres]

Need some help. I am pregnant with our second and my three year old wants to know where babies come from. When I told him mommy’s uterus, he wanted to know how it got in there? This leads me to ask advice on how to answer this question intelligently, accurately, without lying but, at the same time, appropriately (for his age). Someone told me there is a good book for this and this person seems to remember it being a Bearnstein Bears book but isn’t sure. Anyway, can anyone recommend a good book for a three to four year old about this? Thanks for any help!

[zinemama]

I can't imagine the Bearenstain Bears have anything to say on this topic: I can just imagine the dad bear being his usual doofus self and the know-it-all mom smarmily moralizing - sorry, I can't stand the BBs!

Ahem. To answer your question, there's a terrific book called It's So Amazing but it's for kids a bit older than yours. For younger kids, the same authors have another book, It's Not the Stork, which you might take as a jumping off spot.

However, with a 3yo, I think I would just tell him yourself, in simple terms. I.e. "The baby grows from a little part of the papa and a little part of the mama. The two parts get together when the papa's penis goes inside the mama's vagina and meet up. Then they start growing into a baby in the mama's uterus. Isn't that neat?"

[MaryTheres]

Originally Posted by zinemama

I can't imagine the Bearenstain Bears have anything to say on this topic: I can just imagine the dad bear being his usual doofus self and the know-it-all mom smarmily moralizing - sorry, I can't stand the BBs!

I agree! I really do not care for Bearnstein bears nor does DS but she thought it was them so I figured I'd ask.

Originally Posted by zinemama

Ahem. To answer your question, there's a terrific book called It's So Amazing but it's for kids a bit older than yours. For younger kids, the same authors have another book, It's Not the Stork, which you might take as a jumping off spot.

Thank you, I wll look for these! Like I said I really do not want to say "a stork," or be weird about it. I want to be approriate for his age and sensitivity without lying or being scientifically inaccurate. I'll never forget when I asked my mom the same question (I guess I must have been four or so, it was around the time my little brother was born and she gave me such a look and got all flustered and told me in a chastizing way that that's something I'll learn when I get older. I remember feeling like I had asked something wrong - I felt ashamed . Needless to say sex-ed at home did not get any better adn add into that Catholic schoool and I was all-messed up about sex for quite awhile! LOL I'd just like to avoid all that if I could.

[zinemama]

Yeah, I had a 3yo with questions when I was pregnant, too. So I know where you're coming from.

The thing is, kids of that age really have no idea that the penis-in-vagina answer is anything more out of the ordinary than the other improbable-seeming but true things we've already laid on them, like that a flower grows from a tiny seed or that those puffy things in the sky are really made of water. Telling them about reproduction at this stage is really more of an explanation of mechanics and they will take it as such. Mostly with about the same degree of noncholance as if you had explained the function of the elbow. It's the parents who have problems with it, not the kids.