Talking about Blended Families with Kids

“Momma, who’s tummy was Pip in?”  This question from Bear {5.5 yrs} caught me completely off-guard.  We were in the family room, going through boxes and downsizing.  We happened to come across a picture of our family prior to Bear’s birth.  In the picture, my step-daughter, Pip, was about 10 years old.  Bear had been sitting and studying it when that question emerged.

I’ve declared Pip {18 yrs}, my “heart daughter” as I’ve known her since she was 6. And she’s been in our care full-time since she was nine years old. And the fact that I’m not her “real” mom rarely comes up.  I hadn’t thought talking about this fact would be an issue for many years until Bear was old enough to do the math and see that she had been born 10 years prior to my husband and I’s marriage.  So you can imagine why I was surprised and momentarily stunned.  So I bought some time.  “Whose tummy do you think she was in?” I responded.

Bear thought and thought.  “Nana’s? No…. {little laughter}.  That’s not right.  I just don’t know.  Not yours, because you said I was your first baby.”  And that’s when I realized that not only had I set myself up for this conversation, but that this small child had put those pieces together at the tender age of 5.

And so I began, saying something to the extent of  “Well, your sister was in another mom’s tummy.”  To which Bear countered, “Whose?”  That’s when I decided to make it simple.  “It doesn’t matter whose tummy she was in, because I’m her mommy and that’s all that matters.”  He responded with a simple nod of the head and a sweet smile to show me he understood and then turned and began playing with some toys.

I think that in the next week’s time, I’ll start working in books like Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born, God Found Us You, and a few others just for a little bit of reinforcement.

I still really can’t get over that he put that all together…

What’s a tough topic your kiddo has asked about?