When a Mommy Chicken Loves a Daddy Chicken

In our house we like to multitask. Two babies at one time, three kids in diapers, two careers, etc.

So it should not come as a surprise that yesterday we tackled the issue of eating animals we love and reproduction in one interesting conversation with our children.

It all started when we decided to try a new organic farm stand that I'd heard about. Want to put off talking about the facts of life with your children? Skip the organic farm stand and just go to Whole Foods.

We picked out some strawberries and then watched the chickens for a while. When Milo started trying to scale the coop, we knew it was time to go. We paid for our strawberries and also bought a dozen eggs.

Annabella: Where do those eggs come from?

My daughter who eats eggs for breakfast twice a week and has become an expert at cracking them herself was looking intently at the egg carton. It's not that she's never seen eggs, she's just never seen them so close to chickens before.

Me: They come from the chickens.

Annabella: (Horrified) Are there baby chicks in those eggs?

Me: Um.

Marco: Only if they're fertilized.

Annabella: What does fertilizer mean?

Marco: Fertilized.

Huck: Fertilized!

Milo: Fertilized!

Annabella: What does fertilized mean?

At this point I would like to report that we had a long discussion about what happens when a daddy chicken loves a mommy chicken very much and fertilizes the egg, but if the daddy chicken is too tired or wants to watch "The Wire" on DVD instead then the egg isn't fertilized and we eat it for breakfast. But instead I answered her this way:

Me: Do you want some strawberries?

And that was enough to distract her, hopefully for several years.

Comments

[Nikki]

I was more terrified of the "what am I eating" conversation than the "how did I get here" one! I was sitting at the table with my 3 year old back in January of this year eating chicken strips for dinner. I had to give him a few reminders to eat and on one of the reminders I get this funny look from him and the following:

J: Chicken?
M: Yeah, chicken.
J: Like, bok, bok, bok chicken?
M: Yeah.
J: Oh, ok.

And he went back to chewing like it was nothing. I was mortified that I was going to have a veggies only 3 year old in one split second!

I was geared up for toddler drama over that question. I had bracing myself for it since he started table foods at 9 months! I didn't worry about the baby questions and that's the one I think we messed up. Why can't he just accept that Mommy is fat right now and does NOT "have a baby from heaven in her belly"? This is probably why it's a bad idea to lie to your children about these things cause we're getting grilled on the when, where, why and how every day!

[Ruth H]

That is so funny and on so many levels. No matter how open minded one is about sex and speaking truthfully to your children, sex and reproduction are really very personal subjects. But they do come up and soon. I think your reaction was probably the most common one, distract. Since Annabella can read there are some wonderful books for her age, of course, since I'm my age,I cannot remember their names. I think one of the problems now is that parents tend to tell too much. Sometimes the kid just wants something basic. They will get to the specifics and more questions later, but soon enough.

[Jen]

My daughter (almost two) has a grandmother who raises chickens, so she sees them, and the eggs we get from them, on a regular basis. I know both of these issues are going to come up soon. Fortunately, she also loves strawberries, so I'll keep that in mind as an effective deterrent.

[foolery]

I took the blatant way out: "From the chicken's bottom." The chorus of EWWWWWs was not enough to drown out the laughter, and they like eggs too much to give them up. Fortunately, they learn early (from us) how to look the other way when it's convenient.

We had our first uncomfortable conversation last week, however (age 6). I held her gaze and sweated her out until she stopped asking.

Very funny stuff Megan!

[Liz]

That one made me laugh out loud!

[binkytown]

That was some brilliant quick thinking!

[Michael]

I am reminded of an old skateboard of Mike Vallely's with cartoon farm animals with text that read, "Please don't eat my friends."

My daughter Abby hasn't been too bothered about our omnivore tendencies yet. Yet.

[wRitErsbLock]

LOL Megan.

Darling step-daughter declared herself a vegetarian for about two weeks at age 9. We graciously offered to buy her tofu. She took one look at it and decided steak was just fine for dinner.

[Mom Unplugged]

Too funny! I just overheard a similar discussion today in which my 7 year-old daughter told her 5 year-old brother that the eggs we eat have come from chickens that "had that operation...your know...where they were neutered!" I thought that was a pretty good guess really, she has obviously been thinking about it!