Embarrassing Questions That Kids Ask
Kids are the most inquisitive beings around. They take some time to grasp the language after they are born and once they start their questions never stop. Why is the earth round? Why is the sky blue? Is the train moving or the road? And one day they ask you something that stumps you.
Mommy, where do babies come from?
What is this hanging in between this boy’s leg?
And many such embarrassing ones.
You may or not be prepared to answer these at the moment. I myself have been tongue tied at these moments. But rather than shooing them away, let’s take some tips from smart moms all over the world and we can be ’embarrassing questions ready’ the next time they are targetted at us.
If your child asks you an embarrassing question when you’re out in public, answer as honestly as you can, sticking to facts and avoiding imposing your judgments. Again, you will want to speak softly, suggesting that it’s best to ask questions that might make someone uncomfortable when that person isn’t nearby. Some ideas to tackle these questions;
Why is that man so fat?
People come in every type of shape and size. He is heavier than some people, and other people are much taller.
What’s the F-word?
This usually hits us by surprise and no matter how prepared we are for this one. I have noticed this one hits us by surprise at any age. I first heard it in when I was in class 12th, my elder one used it when he was seven and my younger one when he was four. Shocking!! But that’s how the environment around us has changed. This word has the power because it causes a reaction. If a child knows it or about it, then it’s not a big deal—it takes all the energy out of it. So if he is 8 or beyond explain him or if he is younger then just distract the kid, but do not make a big deal of it. When the child sees no reaction, he will not use it.
What are periods?
I found this lovely snippet being circulated on various facebook groups and thought of sharing it, how a mom explains about periods to her 10-year old son. Yes, it’s a good age to explain them about the bird and the bees, if you don’t do it the kids will search for answers elsewhere and that can be dangerous with so much information floating around;
My almost 10-year-old son saw a sanitary napkin ad on television and came to me and asked me what periods meant. At that point I was a bit taken aback, also I was not prepared at that instance with what exactly I did like to tell him. I bought time from him and told him that I am a bit tied up with work. I will sit down and explain soon. He forgot soon but I told myself that I do need to tell him. After much thinking I called him and told him, can we sit down and talk about what you asked me. I told him you asked me about periods and I am sure you are curious to know. He was now all ears to my explanation. I told him, that you are aware that only women give birth to babies. Women hence have a special bag inside them called the womb in which the baby stays while it’s inside the mom’s tummy. Boys don’t have his bag. This bag gets a lining every month which provides nutrition to a baby if inside that bag. But if the baby is not there then the nutrition of that lining expires like any food we buy and it comes out, like all the waste of our body comes out. Hence like babies need diapers to keep clean similarly women need sanitary napkins to keep clean. He pretty much seemed happy with my explanation. I felt good that I explained it and heaved a sigh of relief. Explaining things to kids can be pretty tough a job!!!!!
We can’t list all questions that you may have to face but we can definitely give you advice on how should you react to your child’s embarrassing questions
- Stay relaxed. I’m being completely serious. Don’t rush out having a laugh or run away in pity. Instead, remain relaxed and only react when you can keep your composure. Why remain calm? So young children will continue providing personal issues to you. If you overact to your child’s issues, then they’ll avoid you in the future and ask someone else they experience more relaxed referring to the “deeper factors of life” with.
- Give an “as needed” response. I have repeated to my children over and over that I want them to know as much about a particular subject as possible. However, motherhood, it’s also my liability to figuring out when they are ready for information about delicate subjects. When issues do occur about essential, but unpleasant issues, I quickly decide what information they need to know at their particular age. As they mature, I provide them with more information. But, I always provide them with some sort of response that does help them on their trip of learning and exploration!
- Keep the collections of interaction open. Don’t close down your child’s query instantly. Take the chance to pay attention to your child’s issues, issues and ideas. Bring up the subject again if you think young children grow up in this area and would appreciate extra information. Then, convert around and ask young children issues their past searching issues. Communication is key in a healthy parent/child relationship!
- Use real-life illustrations, designs, characteristics or even guides to response these types of issues. By making the effort and finding out an effective way to response your child’s query, young children will see that her issues are indeed essential to you! Plus, providing in outside sources can create everyone more relaxed about difficult topics!
Children are interested and have lots of issues. It’s unavoidable that they will humiliate you at times. But you can convert these unpleasant circumstances on their head if you see them as educating minutes and design how to regard the variations and emotions of others.
p.s. I am taking my alexa rank to the next level with Blogchatter .
Rajlakshmi says
Loved your answers. Yes it’s very important to handle these questions early on and not chide them away. Love the share from Facebook too. 🙂
Prerna Sinha says
Thank you Rajalakshmi, tried to collate answers to the best of my knowledge and others. I am no expert but glad you liked them :).
Atulmaharaj says
Wonderful tips. The very reason this is Maa of All Blogs ! Keep it up !
Prerna Sinha says
Thank you Atul, that’s a very sweet thing to say :)!
Shalini R says
Wow, Prerna. Those are some great answers!
I’m truly taken aback after reading the snippet you shared on periods. I’m not a mom yet. But an aunt, who is bombarded with such questions from her niece. Glad to have read.
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Prerna Sinha says
This reply has stuck to me ever since I found it on one of the facebook groups and while I can’t take credit for the answer, I have saved it forever and I am glad that it helps people to find answer to that sticky question :).
Deepa says
Good tips..we are sometimes not sure how to answer the questions..nice one Prerna 🙂
Prerna Sinha says
Thank you Deepa :).
Saumy Nagayach says
Well, one can’t hide much from these questions especially when your kids put them in front of u. I like the way you answered all those “TOUGH” questions in such a poised manner. Wonderful post! 🙂
Prerna Sinha says
Yes, we can’t avoid and there can be different questions that you will face but some basic understanding helps. Thank you for your kind comment.
Tina Basu says
awesome answers, I have no idea how i’ll deal with all these when my 1 yr old grows up! And I love ur blog’s name!
Prerna Sinha says
Thank you Tina :). What I have understood of parenting is, the more you think you have a hang of things, the more it surprises you.
Janani Viswanathan says
Questions faced by every mom at some point of time. That was a good collection Prerna! As u said, we have to give some real and reasonable answers at the right time. This will stop them to look for information from other sources which might at times reveal more than what they should know increasing their curiosity in a wrong direction.
Kala Ravi says
Some really smart pointers and replies here! I love how well you tackled the delicate question of sanitary napkins. Fantastic post!
Jaibala Rao says
This is a post I might have to come back to often now that S has started asking me questions. I don’t think of them as embarrassing, just difficult to answer in an age appropriate manner
shweta says
Really good answers rather than shutting them up…
Anindya Sundar Basu says
Loved reading this Prerna. As a father of 4 yo it gets tricky at times to answer all the queries and I am sure its going to only increase for the days to come.
Shalini Sharrma says
Hello Prerna,
You expressed on a very delicate issue. It is important to answer their queries before they seek it out and adapt to whatever info right or wrong come their way. At times I have realized our parents have curtailed many things we want to know just by saying you’ll grow up and know. I liked the ideas you gave ?
Jyotirmoy Sarkar says
Liked this post, good to read your answers. Your tips will help lots of people.
U K says
Ask me Prerna. I have gone through all this. 😀
I have always been open and answered his questions as honestly as I could so that he became aware and open minded. Till date he feels he has a true friend in me and I guess that is what I achieved by not avoiding those embarrassing questions.
Prerna Sinha says
That’s a great thing. Would love to hear some incident and how you tackled it. Please do share for our readers.
Novemberschild says
Early on in parenthood, our jobs are clear: We protect, we provide, we cuddle, we change diapers, and we subconsciously coax our runts to inherit our inherited appreciation. But soon—namely, the minute they learn to string together a sentence punctuated by a question mark—the job changes. We’re expected to become encyclopedia. Kids ask, and they ask, and they ask.That’s the thing about kids. They don’t want us to lie, to stall, to evade, to ignore—and they come to us, expecting us to tell them that the proper pronunciation is indeed vuh-jine-uh. It’s just that we’re not quite sure how to bridge their expectations with our instinct to be a bit coy when delicate issues arise.
Prerna Sinha says
True November Child but we have to satisfy their curiosity or else they will look for answers elsewhere and that can be misleading.
Rohan Kachalia says
I can so very well relate to this! A good and informative post Prerna. 🙂
Prerna Sinha says
Thanks Rohan.
Omkar Jadhav says
Great post Prerna! I have seen so many parents talking about kids not sharing things with them, not spending time talking to them about what’s happening in their life, giving their friends more priority over them.
And this I have observed is because the kind of approach parents have used when interacting with the kids while growing up. The kind of communication and relationship they have established with their children over time.
A child would only confide in you if you show some sensitivity and understanding, and pay attention to what they have to say. But too often this doesn’t happen and the child’s inquiry is met with sudden reaction and judgment.
Parents don’t give priority to their young, naturally making their worries/issues seem less important, and so they don’t follow up with them, which naturally discourages the child from approaching them again.
And similarly many other approaches typically used by parents dissuade learning and creates a distance between their relationship with their children, which becomes magnifies as the children grow up, and the unaware parent continues to wonder what led to this.
So, these are some really wonderful and much-needed tips many of us could use, and you have addressed some common parenting issues very well. Thanks!
Prerna Sinha says
We are just too self-involved in our lives and that’s why we miss out on the quality time with our kids. So true that when we do that our kids grow up and don’t want to give us that time. I find myself guilty of falling into this pattern a lot of times too and then self-correct myself.
Aditi Mathur Kumar says
Such a good post! And love the answers you suggested, Prerna.
Prerna Sinha says
Thank you Aditi :).
Abhinav Kumar says
Very intelligent post and I must appreciate the way you have figured it out to answer such questions. Today’s generation is very fast forward and curious to know everything in advance which, at times, makes us speechless totally. I loved the name- Maa of all blogs as truly it is. Keep writing!! 🙂
Prerna Sinha says
Thanks Abhinav, that’s a very nice thing to say :).
Geets says
Woah! The explanation about periods was completely brilliant! Sure, given the exposure to the kids these days, things come early to their ears and the way you answer your child is sure brilliant as well!
Kudos to you 🙂
Cheers
Prerna Sinha says
Thanks Geet, that explanation came from some facebook group so can’t take credit for that but felt like it was the best I had heard and I had to share it.