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Question: "Daddy, where's the new baby?"

A. "She's being kept in your mommy's tummy."
B. "She's being kept in your mommy's uterus."
C. "Go away, evil spawn."

...I think I know which one I'd choose.

My point being, there's a level of knowledge kids have about the human anatomy (they can feel their stomachs, if they're hungry or full), and introducing a random part to them would probably be more confusing than saying a certain part does double-time. Unless you're ready with diagrams and explanations that would slightly confuse a female child and totally confuse a male child, I think there's little harm in the tummy explanation.

As for the birds and bees thing, I always thought it was how the bees needed to make pollen (and otherwise do whatever they wanted) and the birds needed to have eggs (which needed protection and tending for a long time). You could flip-flop the two and not change anything. Really, any story could be used for "the talk." My sex ed teacher used Old Faithful and Yellowstone Park (and, I have to admit, it was a pretty good one about responsibility - despite the mental images it invokes).

You could also do the eel and the cave. The shooter in the grassy knoll. The haves and the have-nots. Insert tab A into slot B. The beautiful thing about sex is that as long as you've got something sticking out and something pulling in, you've got a story wherein you could attach your own moral compass to the tale and it make sense, no matter WHAT the hell is doing it in the conservatory with the candlestick to Mrs. Peacock.

Birds and bees are, if I remember my biology right, cross-phylum dating. The freak children from that match-up would break the laws of nature. But when Mommy and Daddy need to explain that they're being intimate with one another to someone who isn't to "that age," it's better to shoot the finger to Mother Earth than come clean and explain things.

Facilitypro wrote:

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So that explains why you didn't know what a uterus was until you were 19.

Not like it mattered.

Seriously, though, the problem I see having is that kids are going to want to know what that special, magical place is where the baby is kept. If the child is young, it may require a lot more explaining than the parent is willing to go into (especially at a young age).

I'm comfortable enough with sexuality to discuss it with a child 9 and up (and I think most adults are too squeamish about it), but before that, I'd have to explain body parts that they can't see and couldn't comprehend. I'd also hate to rob them of that innocence. When they're still kids, they're in Mommy's tummy area (in a place where they won't get digested), and when they're reaching the precious tween age, they'll get the talk.

I mean, kids are curious. They'll ask a lot of questions, and they'll ask even more if they have had no prior experience with something. It's wrong to say stomach, but to use a more general part of the body - belly, tummy, muffin top - isn't lying. It's just making the truth a little easier for the kiddies to grasp.

I wasn't clear when I said that the first time around, so I apologize. I agree saying stomach is wrong, but it's hard to say anything other than tummy without having to consult Gray's Anatomy for an explanation.