s apply to the
act of birth. In a book dealing with this subject, a mother is asked by
her child where children come from, and she answers as follows: "You
see, little one, how fruit grows upon a tree; in just the same way,
little children grow within the body of the mother." Beyond question,
there is no justification for the assumption that sexual enlightenment
can be effected only in a repulsive manner; and this view depends merely
upon the fact that through a perversion of moral ideas certain persons
regard as unclean things which are essentially clean. Everything depends
upon the person who effects the enlightenment, upon finding a suitable
opportunity, and upon choosing words and phrases adapted to the child's
intelligence. Success will often follow upon replying in an illuminating
way to some chance question of the child. In other cases, there may be
indications for making the enlightenment part of a festival occasion--a
method described in an old book, in which the father effects the
enlightenment of his children to the accompaniment of public
prayers.[146] The description shows a truly religious spirit, and a
genuine love for children; it shows, further, that natural processes may
be described truthfully to children without wounding in any way their
sense of shame. There is no ground whatever for the belief that to a
fairly advanced child a serious person cannot suitably describe all the
natural processes of the human body, including sexual intercourse. The
child to whom these things are described in a well-considered way, will
receive no kind of injury to its moral sentiments; nor will such a
description, once more, if it is couched in well-chosen words, provoke
in the child any tendency to laughter. The secrecy with which the sexual
life is surrounded, confused by many with the sentiment of shame, often
gives rise to the belief that the child has the same feelings about the
sexual life as the adult. But the unspoiled child has absolutely no
feeling that the sexual life is in any way unclean; and for this very
reason, no great difficulty arises in the sexual enlightenment of such
an unspoiled child--an enlightenment which includes a description of the
sexual act. I have myself on several occasions been asked by parents
with a proper care for the future morality and health of their children,
to undertake the necessary enlightenment of these latter. I am
absolutely convinced that when the child has complete trust i