patrick.net

Before birth they are in a placenta and after birth they start breathing on their own and suck their mother milk.

This was clearly not a question about mating since it is specific to mammals.

turtledove says

She said she was very worried about having to write the word "sex," and was very pleased with herself that she came up with an alternative word, "mate."

Heh, well, next year she will learn in school about how human's mate. One more year of innocence...

At her age, reading, writing and arithmetic are what should be taught.

Biology teaching would be best done later.

The answer is mammals are cared for by the mother, either inside or outside her body.

turtledove says

Do you think this was a strange question to ask, given the age group?

Nah, I think her friends would have already told her.
When my son was 3 and started preschool, he came home and said "F***".
That mammal question could be appropriate in a Kindergarten Christian school. Before birth they are in heaven, and after birth they come to this world.

They are obviously talking about the sequel, not the prequel.

"The Mommy Mammal has hours/days of agonizing pain, during which they cuss out the daddy Mammal with all kinds of foul animal language. Then, in a horrible explosion of screaming, blood and fluid, a messy glob plops out. That's little brother or sister Mammal (and/or transexual/hermaphrodite Mammal if you want to be politically correct). Mommy Mammal then starts squirting it in the face with her nipples."

Heraclitusstudent says

Before birth they are in a placenta and after birth they start breathing on their own and suck their mother milk.

Placenta? My daughter might recognize the word if you said it, but I doubt she's coming up with that one on her own.

JH says

Heh, well, next year she will learn in school about how human's mate. One more year of innocence...

Thank you! And that's exactly the point. They aren't taking biology. I get that this is a writing exercise, and the goal is to see if the kid can write a paragraph using proper grammar and sentence structure while following a thought through to conclusion... But it seems to me it would make more sense if they asked a question about a subject they've already covered in school.

The various answers must be hilarious. They probably have everything from stories about storks and God to graphic details about how babies are made... and a bunch of stuff in the middle.

clambo says

Biology teaching would be best done later.

Couldn't agree more. Again, I think the point was a writing exercise... But it caused my daughter a lot of stress trying to figure out if they wanted her to tell them how babies are made.... She told me that she wasn't sure if "sex" was a bad word, so her goal was to give an answer that didn't use that word. Obviously, it's not a bad word, but hardly something discussed in grammar school... so you can see the confusion.

Strategist says

Nah, I think her friends would have already told her.

She already knows, because when she asked me a few years ago, I answered her honestly. I didn't give her any more information than she asked for, but she knows the mechanics. I think it would have stressed her less if she knew less.

Ceffer says

"The Mommy Mammal has hours/days of agonizing pain, during which they cuss out the daddy Mammal with all kinds of foul animal language. Then, in a horrible explosion of screaming, blood and fluid, a messy glob plops out. That's little brother or sister Mammal (and/or transexual/hermaphrodite Mammal if you want to be politically correct). Mommy Mammal then starts squirting it in the face with her nipples."

Too funny. I'm afraid of what next year's question might be.

I asked about how babies were made at 4, so my mom gave me a book with pictures. I went ahead and shared it with all my friends, including our fundamentalist neighbor. My parents just aren't apologetic about providing information when asked.

The book was not graphic, but did leave my 4-year-old brain wondering if I could at least leave my shirt on when I eventually decided it was time to make my own baby with my future husband.

As far as the essay question, how do we know it wasn't about the adult mammal before birth. Why are we assuming its about the pre- and post-birth baby mammal? Seems like a pretty ambiguous question.