Would you rather?

So it turns out that the Dead Mouse camp swept the Penis camp by a fair amount: 64% of you would rather remove a dead mouse from the garage than have to use the proper terminology when talking to your kids.

I gotta say, I had NO idea that so many of you were so wussy when it comes to the privates! On the plus side, there are quite a bit more people than I realized who will come to my rescue next time I need rodent disposal.


Here's what the garbage peeps had to say:

"This former farm girl wouldn't even care if there was a plastic bag if there was anti-bacterial soap and water near by."

"I'm am as surprised by this response as you are, I'm sure"

(From a NURSE who would rather remove a mouse)

 "I work in a natural history museum and walk by dozens of hundred-year-old dead animals in cases and know that I am just a few floors away from a giant freezer of dead animals and an aquarium full of beetles that eat flesh off of animals for a 'living'. So give me a barrier and a disposal location and I will happily get rid of the mouse. But give me my 4 year old pointing out the penis on our plastinated human male in our health gallery and I totally freeze up... I am not shy about sex or body talk with adults, but the 4 year old poking at her vagina in the bath tub totally makes me not sure what to do!"

Here's what the science peeps had to say:

"NO contest. Body parts are normal, moving dead bodies is not."

"I don't care how cute and small they are, they scare me to death. And I so get the 'body shake' thing."

"We have plenty of this talk in our house. Especially at bath time!"

"Y'all have NOTHING on giving the 'where do babies come from' talk to a FOUR year old who insists on knowing ALL the proper terms. She's trying to kill me. I'm recently traumatized."

So there you have it. B and I were totally wrong in our assumption that our friend was the only crazy gal out there who ran away from body part talk. But you know what? I genuinely like it when I'm wrong about stuff like this because it expands my understanding of the world in tiny ways.

It happens all the time as a parent. You find yourself remembering some previously held assumption or believe that ended up being completely wrong. Or if you let yourself be a good enough listener, it can happen with friends, family, and acquaintances as well. Because judgments and assumptions are the easy way out. But letting yourself be wrong and rethinking a situation you had judged from a distance takes some humility and understanding. 

It's why I enjoy these seemingly mundane life polls from you all. Thanks for participating!

* Here was the last poll we conducted about kissing