1 Mother 2 Another

This weekend, out of nowhere Maddie said,
“Ok, here’s something I don’t get.”


Uh oh.


“How is it that sometimes when people get married they
don’t have a baby right away, but sometimes people have
babies sooner?”


The adults at the table looked at each other.

“Well, hon,” I started,
“Sometimes when people get married they decide not to have
children right away; they don’t feel ready, and want to make
sure they’re going to be really good parents, so they wait to
have babies.”


“Yes, I know,” Maddie said, “But how do they do
that?”


“Oh, you know,” I replied, “They just decide
together that they’re not ready to be parents, so they
don’t have children immediately.


“I know,” Maddie said, clearly frustrated, “but
HOW?”


“Um, they just make the decision not to have children?”
I offer.


“But HOW DOES THAT NOT HAPPEN?” Maddie shrieked.
“I mean, do the boy and girl just not spend any time
together? Because isn’t that how you have a baby: you get
married, and then when you spend time together you’re going
to have a baby?”


Oh.


Not sure where she heard that, but it’s clearly coming from
someone else’s house, from someone else’s feeble
half-explanation.


We sort of worked the answer out, and I promised Maddie I’d
explain it more to her when we had more time, and she was
reasonably mollified.


I feel The Talk coming on. Help me, Lord.