Why I Like to Walk Henry to School

I've found that walking with my children makes them particularly chatty. As they grow older and talk to me less, I plan on trying to walk more and more with them. Something about being bored and not looking directly at me makes them really open up. This morning on the way to school, Henry was full of questions.

"Mom, is getting married a once in a lifetime chance?" he asked.

"Well, no, you might have a lot of chances to get married, but you try to only choose one person to marry that you want to spend the rest of your life with," I answered.

"Oh, so you just want to spend lots of time with the man or woman you marry?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I think kids can learn about anything they are interested in, right?" he went on.

"You mean that kids can ask their parents about anything?" I clarified.

"Yes, like even inappropriate things," he said.

"Yes, you can ask me anything," I said, "but sometimes you shouldn't talk about things that we talk about at school or with other kids," I went on.

"Okay, like we can talk about sex, right?" he asked.

"Yes, you can ask me anything you want," I repeated.

"Well, I know everything about sex," he said, "Except I don't know how elephants have sex."

"Probably the way humans do," I said.

"But can elephants lay down?" he asked.

"Well, I don't know, but I bet they can have sex standing up," I answered.

We also talked about why you can't have sex with your brother or sister. It is a little difficult explaining social taboo and genetics to a five year old, especially before eight in the morning, but what are you going to do? Kids should be allowed to learn about anything they are interested in.