Layman, "I have a little boy eight years old to whom I have never talked about these things. What do you advise?"
Physician, "I would take the first opportunity, some time when the boy is not likely to be interrupted. Refer to some newly arrived or expected baby and tell him frankly where the baby comes from."
Layman, "But Doctor, I have already told him that a stork brought the baby."
Physician, "Then tell him you told him that as a fairy story like the Santa Claus story, but that now he is old enough to know the truth. Then tell him the truth."
Layman, "But I find it hard to talk about these things and I am afraid my child might ask me questions I could not answer."
Physician, "There are books, a list of which will be handed you, which you can read, and parts or all of which you can read to your child."
Layman, "What if my child asks me a question I can't answer."
Physician, "Don't dodge or evade. If you must postpone an answer, do so frankly with a promise that when you can you will answer, or that you will put him in the way of getting good information by reading or otherwise."
This conversation should be extended to apply to adolescent boys and girls and to young men and women. Enough has been given to show the nature and spirit of the dialogue. The people's interest never flags. The layman must ask all the strategic questions, and he must keep at it until he gets answers in simple, understandable terms. If the physician uses "function" or "coöordinate" or "puberty" or "adolescence" or other academic terms, the layman must force simple words at every turn; and in any attempts to describe what a parent should say to a child, the layman should take care that a child's comprehension is reached and that the parent is guided as, to vocabulary. Both speakers should lift the level of their counsels above that of mere physical prudence; they should explain and duly emphasize the moral issue.