“I Don’t Get It, Mama…” An Issue On The Stork

     On our way home one afternoon, my 5-year-old son Shuichi confronted me to tell the truth on how babies are MADE. “I don’t get it, Ma!”, he suddenly blurted. “The short video we watched together yesterday was almost as exact as the scene I had in my mind with your explanation to me about the stork delivering the babies… So how did I get inside your belly then?”. I wasn’t prepared for any answers that time and told him he’ll learn about it when he gets older. He also remembered my other statement that a man and a woman had to get married first before having a baby. I have somehow connected the dots… or I supposed I did. And he went on, “So if the stork delivered me to you as a baby, why did I need to get inside your belly? I quite understood you, though you were talking to your friends in Tagalog, that you were always in pain then, and that it wasn’t easy.” I did my best not to run out of Nihonggo to be understood. I explained to him that a mother has to keep the baby warm inside her belly for a few months until he is ready to come out…. He never runs out of why’s and how’s as always …. “There’s magic that’s way beyond explanation. Some things happen as they are supposed to and one of them is the miracle of birth… did you have fun today in school? What did you have for lunch?”… And I have successfully diverted his thoughts… for the meantime. Whew!…