Fertile Imaginations

(I am looking after a group of 5th graders. Most of them know something about the facts of life, but there are some serious misconceptions. One boy has a college-age sister who is attending another program down the hall.)

5th grade boy: “Boys rule and girls drool!”

5th grade girl: “Nuh-uh! If it wasn’t for girls you wouldn’t be alive! You wouldn’t even have life!”

5th grade boy: “No, that’s not true, even!”

5th grade girl: “Yeah-huh! You came from your mom, who is a girl. If it wasn’t for her, you wouldn’t even be alive right now!”

5th grade boy: “Nuh-uh! I came from my dad and my sister came from my mom!”

Me: *cautiously* “Everyone comes from both of their parents…their mom and their dad.”

5th grade boy: “No, you’re a girl so you came from your mom. I’m a boy, so I came from my dad!

Me: “I am my father’s daughter and my mother’s daughter.”

5th grade boy: “No! Fathers have sons and mothers have daughters! A father can’t have a daughter! It doesn’t work that way!”

(Later, I meet the boy’s older sister in the hallway.)

Me: “It was so cute earlier. Your brother was saying that girls come from their mothers, but boys come from their fathers.”

Boy’s college-age sister: “Yeah, so?”

Me: “Maybe mention to your parents to clear that up, whenever they think he’s ready.”

Boy’s college-age sister: “What’s wrong with it?”

Me: *pause* “Well, it takes both parents…I mean…and fathers don’t just have sons by themselves.”

Boy’s college-age sister: “What are you talking about? Fathers have boys and mothers have girls!”