Book guide: How are babies made?
What is needed for a child to be born?
Where does the baby grow? And how long will it take before he comes out? In this book, bodies are not gendered but described as different. A queer and inclusive children's book about the beginning of life!
About babies and family
What is needed to make a baby? And what is the name of the room where the baby grows before it is born?
In the book, there are many people who waited for the baby to arrive. Who do you think it is? How do you think it feels to them? Have you ever waited for a baby to be born? What can be fun and what can be boring about waiting?
Make a family star! One way to work inclusively is to let every child make a family star, with a photo of the child in the center of the star and on each part of the star you can draw and write in the important people who are in the child's life. In this way, you make room for families with two mothers, two fathers, several parents, siblings, grandfather, a cat and yes, everyone different who is close to the child and is important.
Questions about future dreams
In the book it says that all eggs and all sperm have a lot of stories about the body they came from. And that those stories influence how the child turns out. But the body is also affected by what happens after we are born. For example, what can make someone good at running fast? What can make someone good at drawing? Are there things you would like to be good at or better at?
Exercise! Draw your dreams for the future, things you would like to be good at and learn. When you have finished drawing, check your drawings or if you have all drawn on the same paper and let each child tell what they have drawn. Set up your dreams for the future in a good place!
Talking about how children are made
This book tells you what is needed for a child to be born, but not how it happens in practical terms. When we talk to children about "how", it is important to talk about the different ways in which people today have children. Therefore, it is important that you, as an adult, know this and are ready to answer questions. Feel free to go over it in the staff group so that everyone feels comfortable talking about this.
Tip! Explain simply. There is a room inside the body called the uterus. In that room, children can grow. For there to be a child, a sperm and an egg are needed. The eggs are in the fallopian tubes and the sperm are in the scrotum. The egg and sperm must mix for a child to be born. It is possible to mix inside the body (insemination or intercourse) or outside the body (test tube
fertilization). The egg is then allowed to grow in the uterus for nine months. Then the baby is ready and wants to come out. The baby comes out through the vagina, which is a very strong muscle found in the nipple. Sometimes a hole is made
into the uterus (caesarean section) where the baby comes out.
About standards
A norm is more than what is most common, even if it often coincides. Norms are the rules and expectations that exist in society about how we should be and what we should do. Often, norms become visible mainly when we break them. Not following the norms usually leads to various types of problems, such as being made invisible, ridiculed or diminished. Those who follow the norms usually have advantages that they themselves do not even notice they have. A norm is about how we become a family and what the family looks like. This book opens the door for all children to be able to recognize themselves!
Tip! When children play family, encourage them to play different kinds of families. Families with one father and one mother, families with two mothers, one mother and so on. There may also be many babies in the family.
