How should we respond when our children ask us where babies come from? It’s an awkward question and it’s often popped upon us parents when we aren’t prepared (children are not known for their convenient timing). We can choose to respond by providing an answer that is truthful, age-appropriate, and encourages a healthy view of reproduction, or we can give them a psychological complex which will allow therapists in the future to earn their mortgage payments.
The mom in J.L. Westover’s Mr. Lovenstein chose an answer that fully embraces the uncertain truth: we just don’t know and wish that we could make it stop.