Where did I come from?

Where did I come from?

A 5-year-old boy was watching TV with his mum at home. At that moment it expressed the showed a scene on how a baby was born.

The little boy was so curious that he asked his mum where the baby came from.
“She was picked up from outside.” replied his mum impatiently.
The little boy continued to asked, “Mum, then where did I come from? Was I also abandoned?”
“Yes. I found you in a garbage bin near the food market. Why did do you have so many questions today? Watch TV and stop talking about the topic.” She seemed to have already lost the her temper.
After a while this mother who was too focused on watching TV finally noticed her kid was not around and heard the boy’s crying out from his bedroom.
She went over and saw her boy nearly crying his eyes out with having a stuffed bear in his arms.
Seeing his mum coming, the little boy said with tears filling his eyes, “Mum, is that true? Will you treat me like the wicked stepmother on TV? Dislike me and beat me.”
Now she didn’t know how to answer that question.

The story reminded me of my own experience in the my childhood. I asked my mum the same question. She said I was also abandoned by other people. She had almost convinced me to believe it at that time since sometimes I felt they paid more attention to my brother. Later I also thought I may have come out from her armpit or navel. Somehow I never figured out the correct answer. XD The first time I had the chance to attend sexuality and gender education was in my sophomore year already. Sex seems to be a taboo topic in the society.

Have you ever asked this question to your parents? Were they honest with you? Or probably you have some interesting answers to share. Once I heard from a kid who was told that he sprung out from a magic stone just like Monkey King. So funny. XD

Here’s how I would write it.

A 5-year-old boy was watching TV with his mom at home. At that time the scene on the TV was of a child being born.

The little boy was curious asked his mom where the baby came from.
“She was picked up from outside.” replied his mom impatiently.
The little boy continued to ask, “Mom, then where did I come from? Was I also abandoned?”
“Yes. I found you in a garbage bin near the food market. Why do you have to ask so many questions today? Watch TV and stop talking about that.” She seemed to have lost her temper.

After a while the mother, who was focused on watching TV, finally noticed her son was not around and heard the boy crying in his bedroom.

She went over and saw her child holding a stuffed bear and crying his eyes out.
When he saw his mother,  the little boy said with tears in his eyes, “Mom, is that true? Will you treat me like the wicked stepmother on TV? Dislike me and beat me.”
She didn’t know how to answer that question.

The story reminded me of my own experience in childhood. I asked my mom the same question. She said I was also abandoned by other people. She had almost convinced me to believe that time since sometimes I felt they paid more attention to my brother. Later I also thought I may have come out from her armpit or navel. Somehow I never figured out the correct answer.  It wasn’t until my sophomore year in school that I was able to have sex education.  Sex seems to be a taboo topic in our society.

Have you ever asked your parents this question? Were they honest with you? Do you have some interesting stories to share? Once I heard that a kid who was told that he sprung out from a magic stone just like Monkey King. So funny. XD

“Mom” is used instead on “mum” in the US.  I consider it a British term.  Maybe some Americans use it.

“Sophomore” can refer to one’s second year in either high school or college, so it can be confusing without clarification.

A “kid” is a young goat and also the young of a similar animal.  When used to refer to a human child, it’s a slang term.  When those of my generation were young and used the term, we were reminded by adults with the admonition, “A kid is a baby goat.”   Younger generations seem to consider it acceptable.  I use it informally when I feel it’s appropriate.

We often “discuss a topic.”   I suppose you could say “talking about a topic”  but that sounds a little strange to me.  To "talk about a subject" is common.

When using “lose one’s temper” we generally use a possessive pronoun.

In the US young boys of my generation learned about sex and birth from other boys when we were around the age of 10.  We learned about sexual intercourse before we knew its connection to fertilization and birth.  As for myself, after I had learned a lot from friends, I went to my parents for clarification of anything I didn’t understand.  We didn’t have sex education in school back then. At that time the thinking of adults seems to have been that it you tell young kids too much about sex, they will want to give it a try.  There’s a lot of truth in that, of course, and it seems to have worried adults very much. 

Although American society is more comfortable with the topic of sex these days, it’s interesting that Americans often substitute the word “gender” for ‘sex.”  “Gender” is a grammatical term referring to the classification of words in a language, masculine, feminine or neuter.  When I was young it was used in a grammatical sense.  Although animal life is divided into two sexes, male and female, we seem to (incorrectly according to grammar) refer to male and female “genders.”  It has always struck me that we are still a little Puritan in avoiding the word “sex.”