Honey? Mommy and Daddy have something to tell you. Remember last week when we showed you those pictures of how babies are made? No don't run away, honey. It's natural to be embarrassed so don't worry. Well, remember how the man inseminates the woman and fertilizes her eggs? What? Yes. That is what ducks do too.. well.. sort of. Anyway, Mommy and Daddy used a donor egg to make you. Not dinner. D O N O R. That means someone who gives something voluntarily to someone else.
This conversation is very likely to have occurred in many homes in California according to a recent study,in which 141 couples who used donor sperm or eggs to conceive reported their methods for informing children of their origins. Parents used a variety of approaches beginning when their children were 3 or 4 years of age to either plant the seed (as it were) of knowledge and reveal the whole truth over time, or to sit an older child down and explain it all once the child was old enough to understand.
Truth in parenting is de rigeur these days and generally it seems like a great idea. And while I don't have similar information to share with my kids, I wonder if I'd choose to share the story of the nice donor who helped give you life, or consider it too much information and leave it at that. I'm pretty sure I'd choose the latter. How about you?
