Anatomy

Tamarin got a lesson on anatomy this week. One morning while Chris was getting ready for work and I was still lying in bed with Capuchin, Tamarin pulled out our copy of Storey's Guide to Raising Beef Cattle. Now, a book like this doesn't have many pictures. It's mostly facts, graphs, feed ratios, breed lists, etc. What photos does it have? Well, the ones that caught Tamarin's eye were in the breeding and calving chapters. The calving chapter comes first. It shows the different presentations for a calf and how to tie ropes to them if they need help getting out. There is a diagram of a person reaching in the rectum and handling the uterus to check for pregnancy. The breeding chapter shows you everything you want to look for in a good breeding bull all the way down to the shape of his scrotum. Yes, I'm serious. Next was castration methods. Oh, yes. Then how to mend a prolapsed rectum and vagina after birth.

By lunchtime my eldest had quite a few new words added to her vocabulary. She asked me so many questions. I thought she may want to proceed into more detail about breeding, but all she wanted was the proper name for the goop (what we had called semen till now) the roosters leave on our hens. Then she found the chapter about illness and was more curious about lancing and draining puss. That's my little Wednesday Adams :)

It was fun to discuss the four chambered stomach with her. The look on her face when I told her they regurgitate their food, chew it some more and swallow again. That was the only thing that was gross to her.

I know most people get the heeby jeebies at the thought of discussing sex and birth with their children. I don't. When I was pregnant with Capuchin, Tamarin asked questions. I explained the uterus to her with a balloon that I then filled with water. I turned it upside down and let the end go to help explain birth. It's part of life and I would much rather they learn about this stuff from me than anyone else. I think it's important to follow the child's lead. When they start asking questions - answer them! You can start with part of the story. When they are no longer content with the answers you gave them they will ask more questions and you can give them more pieces of the story. If you teach them that sex is something to be embarrassed about and YOU don't want to talk about it, where will they go when they have questions? Not to you.