How do you explain to your children that they won’t be
meeting Grandpa since Mommy is the love child that resulted from a few too many
Jagermeister shots one Saturday night in college?
Slate’s Dear Prudence column recently tackled a (slightly
more tasteful) variation of this question. “Dadless
Mom” wrote in wondering how to respond to her five-year-old’s question, “Who’s
your dad?” She was wary of giving her son more information than he could handle,
but at the same time she wanted to avoid creating the same aura of secrecy that surrounded
her own quandaries about her father when she was a little girl.
Prudence masterfully answered this question with a gentle, “What’s
the big deal?” With the wisdom of distance--and of a marketable knack for offering good advice--Prudence suggested that the child’s query is probably not nearly
as loaded as “Dadless Mom” seems to believe. He’s probably just curious, and requires
only a quick, but truthful, response.
In other words, if you’re relaxed about
the fatherhood question—and other sticky subjects—chances are, your kids will
be, too.
Photo: canada.com
