Sticks And Stones - Baby Talk

Sticks and Stones - Baby Talk

IN OUR ATTEMPTS to make casual conversation we often ask innocent questions:

How are things at work?

What book are you reading?

Have you seen any good movies lately?

Here are a few questions that might seem innocent to us but can be deadly posed to the wrong person:

Are you thinking about having children?

Are you pregnant yet?

When are you going to give me a grandbaby?

Why didn’t you have kids?

Girlfriends, for many women these questions break hearts, threaten peace, or sound like judgment being sent down from heaven above.

For my young girlfriends (and their husbands) who are in your childbearing years, I apologize for all of us who ask without considering that you may be trying, unsuccessfully, to get pregnant. I cannot begin to imagine how frustrating it must be to try and try, only for the blessing not to come—when it seems to come so easily for others. How heartbreaking it must be for you to try to answer these difficult questions.

For my girlfriends (and their husbands) whose parents pressure you to carry on the family name and gene pool, I apologize for all of us who fail to realize that, for reasons your parents might not understand, having children is not right for you, whether now or in the foreseeable future. What a peace stealer it must be when you’re made to feel that the only valuable contribution you could make to your family would be to produce a grandchild.

For my girlfriends (and their husbands) who have chosen not to be parents, I apologize for all of us who ask—when it’s none of our business—if or why you elected not to have children. You should never be made to feel that you must justify your decision to have or not to have one (or a household of) kiddo(s).

Death and life are in the power of the tongue. (Proverbs 18:21, NASB)

When it comes to baby talk, perhaps it’s best to let a woman bring up the topic of motherhood—on her terms.