Being a parent means that you are your child’s first teacher. You are the one that gets to explain all of life’s good and all of life’s bad. Many times this means more than talking about how Santa Claus knew your address or how the Tooth Fairy put the money under his pillow without waking up anyone in the house. Sometimes it means answering the hard questions when we may not even have all of the answers ourselves. Here are 5 of the toughest things that you may to explain to your kids:

1. The birds and the bees- Pregnancy and childbirth is a miraculous adventure. It can be hard to explain everything that goes on with conceiving and having a baby without getting into all of the scientific details that they just don’t need to know and won’t understand. Also, talking about how the baby got into mommy’s tummy is a subject that makes most parents sweat.

2. Divorce- This is something that is hard enough on parents. Trying to explain to children how it’s going to change their lives can be an entirely different challenge. The most important thing is to remind kids that both parent love them and nothing that’s happening is their fault.

3. Loss of a job- Financial strain can cause a change in lifestyle for the whole family. Kids may have to give up extracurricular activities or getting special toys in order to save money and make the budget tighter. Young children don’t fully understand where money comes from, so it can be hard for them to understand why their life has to change.

4. Drugs- Schools are doing a good job teaching kids to “Just Say No to Drugs” but they aren’t necessarily teaching them what a drug is and all of the different types of drugs that are on the market. It’s up to the parents to teach kids about drugs and how they can be harmful.

5. Illness- Having a parent with a serious illness can be stressful for the entire family. Watching your parent get sick and becoming weak can be scary for a child. It’s important that they understand what’s happening in their life and also ways that they can help like cleaning their room or making special “get well cards.”

Talking to kids about sensitive subjects can be hard but parents should always be the first line of defensive when it comes to navigating through life for kids. It’s important that conversations are always age appropriate so that the information that’s shared makes sense for that particular child.

What are some other tough things that you’ve had to explain to your kids?