From the Mouths of Babes

maxsom · October 2011

I posted this on the MCPL board as well.

My sister had told her kids (10 and 8 y/o boys and a 3 y/o girl) about my pregnancy. My sweet little niece was all excited when she told her. "Aunt Miranda's gonna have a baby?!" Well, when I miscarried, how do you explain something like that to a 3 y/o. Besides, she hadn't mentioned it since she was told about it, so one might assume she'd forgotten about it.

I was babysitting tonight and, out of the blue, my niece asked me "Do you have a baby at your house?" I just said no. Then she said "Where'd your baby go?" I just said that my baby went bye bye. She asked where, which I wasn't sure how to answer cause I'm not sure what my sister has explained to her about death, if anything, so I just said I don't know. She continued to ask questions until I finally just told her that Aunt Miranda will have a baby in a little while, we just have to wait. Then she went right back to playing with her memory game we were working on setting up.

Can't say that didn't sting a little bit.

linfor2 · October 2011

Sounds like you handled that very well. Why would she tell her 3 y/o? That's tough! ((Big Hugs))

orange_roses · October 2011

Big hugs to you.

DD mentioned...

My DD is 4 and I told her we were having a baby in April. She was so excited.... even after I told her "I made a mistake - we weren't having a baby." She kept bringing it up and asked similar questions. I didn't realize how she had to go through her own little ?mourning? of her sibling. At first, she thought it had to do with her behavior and asked if she was good and when I said yes, then she asked "Then can you put the baby back inside?" Eventually, she realized that we really weren't having a baby because I wasn't getting big like the mommy's at preschool who have babies inside them. So then she thought perhaps her friend's mommy took our baby (she's pregnant). It was embarrassing and difficult the time DD confronted this pregnant mommy in the parking lot about taking our baby. After that parking lot event, she hasn't mentioned it since.

aadewitt · October 2011

awww . the week before I m/c we announced to our families I was pg. When we told DH's family (hes the youngest of 5 with everyone being married and have kids) I thought it would be funny to tell one of our nieces that I was pg and to tell everyone else...

Of course then I m/c I honesty am not sure what my in laws told the kids, they are 7-9 yrs old. None of the kids have said anything to me.

bribri81404 · October 2011

I think you handled it perfectly! And I agree it does sting a bit! ((Hugs)) to you!

amidkiff · October 2011

IMO, you handled it very well. Yes, it does sting but she was just too young to understand. ((Hugs))

raashton · October 2011

I think you handled this well, especially considering that you wanted to be sure you didn't step on your sisters toes in her explainations.

I had to explain it to my 6 year old nephew. I just said, "She was sick and God took her back to Heaven for a little bit."

His response, "I hope she's back for my birthday part." and then later, "She'll be back you know?"

I think with kids, it is best to keep it as simple as possible unless they ask more questions.

Want a personalized experience?

From the Mouths of Babes

Re: From the Mouths of Babes

Choose Another Board

Search Boards