in seems to arise spontaneously.
"Where did I come from, Mother?" It is a natural question, yet it has a
certain mystical quality, coming as it does from within and reaching
back into the unknown.

The greatest number of questions arise between the ages of four and six.
After school entrance, questions recede gradually until by the ninth,
tenth, or eleventh year children have reached what is called the
questionless age. This is not an indifferent age--quite the
opposite--but spontaneous questions are less frequent. Possibly they are
crowded out by other interests, possibly bits of desultory information
satisfy for the moment; and there is always the gradual adoption of
reticence which takes place as children grow older.

At adolescence there is a keen revival of interest but more resistance
to open family discussion than in the pre-adolescent age. Maturing
children are touchy, sensitive, self-conscious, modest, seclusive. They
run to cover at too intimate a topic, especially in the hands of adults
who are inclined to strike a wrong note; to be preachy and teachy and
inquisitive and, in terms of the young adolescents themselves, "too darn
sexy!"

No matter what the age, whether pre-school, elementary school, or high
school, if questions are asked or interest is shown, explanations are
given in accordance with the age, understanding, and general background
of the child.

The questions that children ask are as the sands of the sea, yet sifted
and analyzed, they reveal a fairly uniform structure on which one may
build. It is a foursquare structure of pregnancy, birth, fertilization,
and mating, in the order named. They start with a concrete
situation--"Where did Mrs. Holmes get her baby?"--and the three others
follow in logical sequence. Of course, the pattern varies somewhat.

Well, where did Mrs. Holmes get her baby? You know and I know, yet the
thought of getting it all said to this young cherub in a brown snowsuit
makes us a bit fluttery. We didn't think that it would. "Oh, the baby.
All babies grow inside their mothers." How unbelievably simple! No birds
or bees or butterflies, or seeds planted under mothers' hearts. Just
"all babies grow inside their mothers." Six words.

Of course you may touch up the story. You will not want to leave it so
stark and bare. "They grow in a little place just made for them to grow
in. It's in here, the place is, in mothers," and you give a friendly pat
against your side. Many chi