A GIRL HAS TO KNOW HOW TO PROTECT HERSELF THESE DAYS

My sis-in-law's most recent blog entry discussed a young woman whose interest in martial arts was picqued as a young girl when her dad told her that before she would be allowed to date, she had to have a black belt in karate. Her entry about the young woman and the karate reminded me of a discussion that Maggie and I once had when she was about five years old.

At that time, she had just become very interested in the "facts of life." As I recall, both of her aunts were pregnant, and Maggie had lots of questions as to the mechanics of the situation. I recall trying my best to explain reproduction in simple enough terms that a five-year old could understand. I wanted to explain the basic facts as simply as possible without confusing her unnecessarily. One thing that I remember clearly from these discussions is that Maggie's main source of angst regarding the whole baby situation was when she asked how the baby made it from point A to point B.....specifically, she wanted to know how the baby got out of the mommy's tummy. Again, in the simplest way possible, I tried to explain that most of the time, the baby came out of a special hole in the mommy's bottom, but sometimes, the doctor may have to cut open the mommy's tummy to get the baby out. Neither of these options appealed much to her.

Upon hearing these startling revelations, Maggie decided right then and there that Chris and I were on the right track all along, and that she too, planned to adopt her babies. There would be no babies coming out of her this way, that way or otherwise, thank you very much. After that, many of her baby questions frequently referred to the actual birth itself. It was almost as if she couldn't believe that what I was telling her was true. Each time I explained it, she would give a small shudder and reiterate that she planned to adopt her children.

One night, Maggie and I were in the car and the baby conversation came up once more (I find that we get into a lot of these "deep" discussions when in the car - - I can only assume it is because there I am trapped and can't escape until she has all her questions sufficiently answered.) She had apparently been rolling the whole baby thing over for quite some time, because she said, "how does a woman keep from getting a baby in her tummy if she doesn't want one there?" I thought this question was an awfully deep one for a five-year old to have come up with, but apparently, she was pretty serious about the whole "no babies for me in my tummy" thing.

I said, "Maggie, when a woman is old enough to be with a man in that way, there are ways that she can protect herself to make sure she doesn't get pregnant." Maggie pondered this over for several moments - - but she apparently honed in on the word "protect" because the next thing she asked is, "you mean like karate?" I had to laugh - - and say "yes, I suppose karate is one way a woman could protect herself from getting pregnant." I, of course, was thinking more along the line of birth control pills or condoms, but hey, karate would likely come in really handy as well. Hi-yuh!