As children grow older, they become smarter and begin to ask difficult (read embarrassing) questions. And they quickly learn to see through the lies their parents tell. It is not at all easy to answer questions coming from a five or six-year old, especially if you are not prepared to answer them.

Let’s move to the most classic, and the most difficult, question of them all: how do babies come into being? Generations of toddlers, including most of us, have asked this question of their parents, who have mostly lied their way out of the situation. That this question deserves an honest response itself would be a ridiculous idea to members of older generations.

You may think that lying is ok as a response to this question since a child will certainly not understand the complexity of the process of making babies. The trouble is that children have an innate way of seeing through their parents; they know when their parents are not giving them the honest answers. When a child figures out that her parents are being ‘economical with the truth’, her curiosity will rise and she will seek answers from other sources, or worse, begin believing in unscientific mumbo jumbo.

What are your options? Here are some tips to handle the situation:

1. It may be a ‘delicate’ issue but it is not good to use euphemisms (highly indirect polite response). That will confuse the child. Try and give short and factual answers. You don’t have to elaborate. Give only what the child asked for.

For instance, it’s perfectly ok to say that a baby is made from a seed from dad and an egg from mom. The seed and egg then join together in a special place called a womb inside mom’s tummy and form a baby. Each baby is special and is a mixture of both mom and dad.

2. Don’t expect the child to swallow this and ask no further questions. The child may ask how the seed will be planted or if there will be any flower growing from it! You may say that those are special seed and egg, different from what the child usually sees. The child may find this response a bit revolting and respond with a loud “Yuck!”. Treat that as a cue that the child is not ready to hear anything sexual anymore. Stop and say that you will talk about it another time.

3. However, use the actual terminology of the body parts when it becomes necessary to mention them. When children see that nothing is wrong with those body parts, they will be more prepared to learn about the nature of sexuality when they are older. To make things easier for the child to understand, use illustrations from a pregnancy book to show how a baby is conceived and how it grows inside the womb week by week. It is an opportunity to turn it into a simple and useful anatomy lesson.

4. If some elders in the house have been telling the child stories of storks bringing babies – tell the child that the stories are just that – stories.

5. If a slightly older child has already begun learning on this topic from school or elsewhere and comes to you for clarifications, don’t show disapproval if asked about sex. This is worse than lying about it because it shows sex in a dirty light, distorting the child’s view of something that is natural. It is easier to answer ‘difficult’ questions when one has a healthy attitude towards natural aspects like sexuality.

6. 'You Tube' has some decent videos on child birth meant for children. Try them - after watching them first yourself to rule out undesirable content. These might convey to children what you are hesitating to do.

Remember, children’s interest in this issue is innocent and arises out of a desire to know more about themselves. It is an opportunity to prove your honesty to them. Clear and simple answers have the potential to foster better bonding between you and your child.