Embarrassing Questions

Adilyn, like most little ones, is very observant. She pays attention to everything, and she of course, has to ask "why this?" and "why that?" I love answering her "why" questions, but lately these questions have taken an embarrassing turn.

We were at Jack In the Box on the way home from Fort Worth the other day, and we had decided to go inside. The boy that was taking our order had earrings in both ears and looked a little feminine. We were standing there ordering our food, and Adilyn says,"Mommy, is that a boy or a girl?" I told her to be quiet, but obviously, that wasn't going to work because she just repeated it, louder. We ordered as fast as possible, and then retreated to the bathroom!

The next day, we were at Walmart. We saw a lady wearing gloves. Adilyn says, (as we pass her) "Why is that lady wearing gloves? It's not winter time!" Same trip, we were checking out, and the checker had a nose ring. The question, "Why does she have an earring in her nose? That isn't where it is supposed to go!"

The worst part of the embarrassing questions is that I have to give her some sort of answer without offending the person she is asking about. About the lady with the gloves, "Sometimes people just don't want to touch things in public." I don't know about that one, but it's all I had. About the nose ring, "People put earrings in all sorts of places in their bodies." Weird answer, but true, I suppose!

After the string of horrifying questions, I decided it was time to have a talk! I tried to tell her if people look different or have different things about them, that she can ask me about it when we walk away, far away!

I told her that if she doesn't know if a person is a boy or girl, she needs to just choose one. I also told her that it doesn't really matter if they are a boy or girl.

I hope, for my sake, that she understands!