How to explain abortion ruling to 7 year old

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't. Let her have her childhood.

I’d like to! But clearly she’s heard something and is trying to process it. Point is I’d like to guide that processing if at all possible.

She has no idea what she's saying. This must be a troll post. Any parent would realize that.

The OP is a parent. I’m a parent. Parenting includes things like talking to your kids about uncomfortable but important things in developmentally appropriate ways. Sometimes even though we would rather “let them be kids.” The repeal of Roe has implications for OP’s 7yo daughter, my 12yo and 5yo daughters, and your daughters, if you have any. I’d prefer that my daughters get their moral guidance from me and moral leaders I think are appropriate, so we discuss things like abortion and racism and other things that probably will get called “woke” in a dismissive way.

abortion is inherently anti-moral

[Anonymous]

I mean, let’s be honest here: what is driving this opposition to talking to kids about abortion is that anti-abortion groomers want to be the first one to tell your kids what an abortion is, and they plan to do it with pics of aborted fetuses in tow. No thank you.

Also, you not wanting to tell your child about a topic is *never* a reason for me not to give my kid a book about that topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, let’s be honest here: what is driving this opposition to talking to kids about abortion is that anti-abortion groomers want to be the first one to tell your kids what an abortion is, and they plan to do it with pics of aborted fetuses in tow. No thank you.

Also, you not wanting to tell your child about a topic is *never* a reason for me not to give my kid a book about that topic.

Have fun when your child grows up to be neurotic just like you, and you just can’t figure out why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't. Let her have her childhood.

I’d like to! But clearly she’s heard something and is trying to process it. Point is I’d like to guide that processing if at all possible.

She has no idea what she's saying. This must be a troll post. Any parent would realize that.

The OP is a parent. I’m a parent. Parenting includes things like talking to your kids about uncomfortable but important things in developmentally appropriate ways. Sometimes even though we would rather “let them be kids.” The repeal of Roe has implications for OP’s 7yo daughter, my 12yo and 5yo daughters, and your daughters, if you have any. I’d prefer that my daughters get their moral guidance from me and moral leaders I think are appropriate, so we discuss things like abortion and racism and other things that probably will get called “woke” in a dismissive way.

Any nobody can figure out why each generation has more anxiety than the last.

Are you explaining rape and incest too? Throw in the heat death of the universe, cancer and HIV for good measure.

This!! I swear people have lost all common sense. I see it most among super liberal parents. I have a friend who tells her daughter everything about everything, then wonders why the child has anxiety. The child is being given information that she does not yet have the cognitive framework to process, due to her particular stage of brain development and lack of experience in life. I don't understand this need to tell young kids everything just because it will affect them one day. It's like an overreaction to the tendency of conservative parents not to tell their kids anything. If you have a 7 year old you can easily wait 3-5 years to have some of these conversations. Giving them some info on where babies come from doesn't mean you have to get into Roe v. Wade and all the political implications. Let the adults tackle the adult problems and let kids be kids!

I don't think that applies when the kids are asking questions, though. If my 7 year old asks me a question and I deflect or say "that's a grown up thing," or whatever, she doesn't just go "oh, well, never mind, tra la!" She tries to figure it out on her own, and that's usually less helpful for her than if I just told her the truth. With very few exceptions, when my kid asks me a question, I answer truthfully and age appropriately: "she absolutely can give the baby away, if that's what she wants to do. But being pregnant can be really hard and scary and uncomfortable, and sometimes some women don't want to do that, even if they could give the baby away."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tonight at dinner after going to visit Harper’s Ferry my husband and I were talking about the Civil War and I made a quip about hopefully we don’t see another Civil War. I wasn’t thinking about my 7 year old sitting there (note to self: keep mouth shut) but this prompted her to say “but couldn’t you just give the baby to someone else.” To say I was in shock is an understatement first that she knows anything about the SCOTUS decision but also connected it to my quip.

And now I’m at a loss of how to explain this to her. We haven’t had the sex talk yet. She knows broadly that babies come out of women’s bodies and that women have eggs but we haven’t talked about anything beyond that.

I feel like I have to say something as clearly she’s picked up on the conversations right now and I’d rather be the one who tells her what’s going on then her trying to figure this out on her own.

And I know folks are going to immediately say troll, but I promise I’m not. This happened tonight and I desperately need advice on how to move forward.

You say some people do give their baby to someone else and move on. She didn’t ask you about abortion she asked you about adoption.

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Highly nuanced topics aren’t developmentally appropriate for 7.

The 7 yos you know must be kind of slow.

They get the **words.** Words they understand. Don't kid yourself they get the concepts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, let’s be honest here: what is driving this opposition to talking to kids about abortion is that anti-abortion groomers want to be the first one to tell your kids what an abortion is, and they plan to do it with pics of aborted fetuses in tow. No thank you.

Also, you not wanting to tell your child about a topic is *never* a reason for me not to give my kid a book about that topic.

Have fun when your child grows up to be neurotic just like you, and you just can’t figure out why.

Pot meet kettle

[Anonymous]

My kids are 5 and 8 and I don’t think this is that hard.
Not everyone whose body grows a fetus wants to have a baby. If they don’t want to raise the baby, they can give it up for adoption and that is a beautiful gift to give another family. If they don’t want to be pregnant, they can have an abortion. That means a doctor helps them remove the cells in their body that would grow into a baby. That means the cells can’t grow any more. There are a lot of grown up reasons people might not want to be pregnant or give birth.

Sometimes when the fetus is growing, it grows in the wrong part of the body (ectopic) or something is wrong with the fetus and it stops growing correctly. When that happens, doctors might need to take the embryo / fetus out to save the pregnant person’s life. Sometimes that needs to happen when the fetus still has a heartbeat. It’s important for pregnant people and their doctor to be able to make the decision about what to do together.

[Anonymous]

When my son was young, once he brought up out of the blue how all abortions should be illegal. I asked why he thought that and said babies could be put up for adoption. I listened, told him that was true but that there were also times when the baby would be born with such serious health conditions it wouldn’t be able to live or the pregnant mom wouldn’t be able to live. He was quiet for a minute and then said those were situations abortion would be okay.

We were out taking a walk that day and I remember it well. After that, he went back to some other conversation. I didn’t go into any further details about anything because he was young.

Listen to your kid, OP. You can have age appropriate discussions and follow their lead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, let’s be honest here: what is driving this opposition to talking to kids about abortion is that anti-abortion groomers want to be the first one to tell your kids what an abortion is, and they plan to do it with pics of aborted fetuses in tow. No thank you.

Also, you not wanting to tell your child about a topic is *never* a reason for me not to give my kid a book about that topic.

Have fun when your child grows up to be neurotic just like you, and you just can’t figure out why.

And you sound so sincerely concerned about the possibility of this outcome that I am rushing to take your parenting advice seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, let’s be honest here: what is driving this opposition to talking to kids about abortion is that anti-abortion groomers want to be the first one to tell your kids what an abortion is, and they plan to do it with pics of aborted fetuses in tow. No thank you.

Also, you not wanting to tell your child about a topic is *never* a reason for me not to give my kid a book about that topic.

Have fun when your child grows up to be neurotic just like you, and you just can’t figure out why.

And you sound so sincerely concerned about the possibility of this outcome that I am rushing to take your parenting advice seriously.

No worries. You’ll be the one paying therapy bills, not me.

[Anonymous]

This is not something I'd talk about with a 7 year old. They're 7! It's ok to keep adult things from them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my son was young, once he brought up out of the blue how all abortions should be illegal. I asked why he thought that and said babies could be put up for adoption. I listened, told him that was true but that there were also times when the baby would be born with such serious health conditions it wouldn’t be able to live or the pregnant mom wouldn’t be able to live. He was quiet for a minute and then said those were situations abortion would be okay.

We were out taking a walk that day and I remember it well. After that, he went back to some other conversation. I didn’t go into any further details about anything because he was young.

Listen to your kid, OP. You can have age appropriate discussions and follow their lead.

I think this is key. Even with a very precocious kid, you can be responsive and still keep it simple. Not everything has to be explained at once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, let’s be honest here: what is driving this opposition to talking to kids about abortion is that anti-abortion groomers want to be the first one to tell your kids what an abortion is, and they plan to do it with pics of aborted fetuses in tow. No thank you.

Also, you not wanting to tell your child about a topic is *never* a reason for me not to give my kid a book about that topic.

Have fun when your child grows up to be neurotic just like you, and you just can’t figure out why.

And you sound so sincerely concerned about the possibility of this outcome that I am rushing to take your parenting advice seriously.

No worries. You’ll be the one paying therapy bills, not me.

As I said: your concern seems so sincere that it’s hard to dismiss you. Yet I am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, let’s be honest here: what is driving this opposition to talking to kids about abortion is that anti-abortion groomers want to be the first one to tell your kids what an abortion is, and they plan to do it with pics of aborted fetuses in tow. No thank you.

Also, you not wanting to tell your child about a topic is *never* a reason for me not to give my kid a book about that topic.

Have fun when your child grows up to be neurotic just like you, and you just can’t figure out why.

And you sound so sincerely concerned about the possibility of this outcome that I am rushing to take your parenting advice seriously.

No worries. You’ll be the one paying therapy bills, not me.

As I said: your concern seems so sincere that it’s hard to dismiss you. Yet I am.

Oh is that why you’ve responded twice?