Last spring my sons and I were in downtown Greenville, South Carolina enjoying a beautiful sunny day. As we were playing near the Peace Center, my then five year-old son Hollis pointed to a pregnant woman, and asked "How do babies get in there?"
I have prepared for this moment for many years, and knew to respond the same way that I have always talked with him, truthfully. Since he knew the proper terms for the body parts, I said "Well son, a man puts his penis in a woman's vagina, and his testicles create a fluid called semen that combines with the egg in a woman's body to create an embryo that grows into a baby."
Not a problem; pretty simple. However, the year before he stumped the hell out of me when he asked where people came from. Not being able to rely on a creation myth makes this question harder. Add to this the the fact that I am a product of South Carolina public schools, and it gets even worse. I knew evolution was what I wanted him to learn, but I did not know anything about it. I was a business major for Christ' sake! So I answered with quite possibly the worst explanation of evolution ever, "We came from monkeys."
Luckily, I then went and got every possible children's book on evolution that existed, including my favorite How Whales Walked into the Sea. Did you know that whales evolved from dog-like creatures? Neither did I! And why didn't we??
As I read these books to him, it inspired me to learn more about evolution, even to the point where I have become a science junkie. Well, as long as the science is made easily understandable to me. It helps when you can then go listen to the scientist in person, as in seeing Dr. Neil Shubin talk about "Your Inner Fish." He is a freakin' rock star among scientists!! Tiktaalik!!
