Hens and Roosters

Where Do Babies Come From? was laid on Luke's bed after he finished dusting his bookshelves.  'Do you not want this book anymore?', I asked.  'No.', Luke replied, 'You can give it to Jude.' 

As Jude walked to his bedroom, I informed him that Luke had given him a book and it was on his bed.  I explained that it discussed more of what he and I had briefly chatted about earlier... (When he had asked if we, 'come from an egg'.)  I saw his interest peek as he layed himself crossways on his bed and I left him alone.  As I walked away, I told him that we would talk about it more later.

Later came and I was in my bedroom making my bed.  Jude enters and declares, 'That book was gross!'  'It was gross?', I asked.  'Yes!', he restated.  I asked him to go get the book and bring it to me.  As we sat on the bed, I told him that this was an introductory lesson and that his dad and I would discuss more of it later.  However, I wanted to clear up any lingering 'gross' ideas that he may have concluded.

He flipped the book to the page that he thought was gross.  On the left, it was a diagram of the female reproductive system.  On the right hand side was the male reproductive system.  There were also sketch drawings of a female and male (naked of course!)... The female made him uncomfortable and he refused to look at it with me.

These two pages primarily identified the different sex cells of each... Needless to say, we did not get any further than this!  I explained to him that the female sex cell was the egg in question.  I also explained that it was only half of what was needed to make a baby.  Likewise, the male has sex cells and they are necessary for reproduction.  'I have heard that word before... when we studied plants', Jude says.  I further explained that plants, animals and humans are capable of reproducing. 

For example... 'When we had bacon and scrambled egg sandwiches for dinner last night, why wasn't there a chicken in the egg when mommy cracked it open?'  'I don't know', he replies.  'Because the egg came from the hen which is the female.'  'And she will always lay eggs that won't grow into chickens unless there is a rooster around.'

'Jude, can you have a hen house with chickens that lay eggs without having a rooster?', I asked.  'Yes!', he says.  'Can you have a hen house, where the hens lay eggs that grow into chickens, without having a rooster?'  'No!', he says. 

Perfect.  Lesson learned.

'You cannot have a chicken or a baby with just an egg.  You have to have the sperm introduce himself to the egg', I continued.  'Mom... how does the sperm introduce himself to the egg?', he pondered. (I knew I should have just left it with the hen house!)  'That is in the next lesson and we'll talk about that later'.  I concluded by telling him that this was just the first lesson with the idea of talking more later.  He exited the room with head hanging low and declaring,
'Lesson one was gross!'

I think these lessons would come easier if we in fact lived on a farm!