The Parenting Storks by David Sedaris.
(Suitable for Adults)
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https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/13365914
The precocious stork was only two weeks old when
he asked where babies come from.
“Goodness,” said his mother. “I mean, golly, that’s
quite some question.” She considered herself to be
as modern as anyone, but didn’t you have to draw
the line somewhere? “Let me get back to you on
that,” she said, and she shoved a herring down his
throat with a bit more force than usual.
Later that day the mother stork repeated the
conversation to her sister, who also had a recently
born chick. She meant it as a Don’t kids say the
darnedest things type of story and was unprepared
for the reaction she got.
“Your only son came to you for answers, and you
didn’t give them to him?”
“Well, of course I didn’t,” the stork said. “Why, he’s
just a baby himself. How can he be expected to
understand something so complicated?”
“So children should be put off or, even worse, lied
to?”
“Until they’re old enough, sure.”
“So we lie and we lie and then one day they’re just
supposed to believe us?”
“That’s how it was with our family, and I never felt
particularly traumatized,” the stork said. “Besides,
they’re not lies so much as stories. There’s a
difference.”