“Once upon a time, there was a bird that took you out of a cabbage patch, carried, and delivered you to us when you were just a tiny baby.”

This is the absurdity that many parents tell their young children when describing to them the origin of human infants. They tell their children such a lie about something so important in order to “preserve their innocence,” but what these parents fail to realize is that they are only teaching their children to lie and crippling their children's minds/mental development.

First off, obviously, one day the child will learn the truth about how humans are created be it from friends, from the internet, or from a classroom environment. After discovering the truth, the child will think to his or herself, ‘Wow! My parents told me such an absurd lie about something so trivial for no apparent reason…I guess such lying is acceptable behavior.’ By lying to a child in order to avoid an uncomfortable conversation, a parent teaches that lying is acceptable and by subsequently teaching a child that lying is wrong teaches them that hypocrisy is also acceptable behavior.

Secondly, lying to one’s child does not mean that one is preserving their innocence and on the flip side, telling the truth does not mean that a child is automatically stripped of their innocence. It is generally accepted that children should remain ignorant of certain aspects of human nature. While this is true of some aspects of human society such as violence and atrocities, this should not be true of something as benign and un-corrupting as sex. The only reason American society sees sex as something that should be hidden from children is due to its conservative, religious roots. While exposing young children to violence and the dark side of human nature may corrupt their young, impressionable minds, exposing them to the ancient mechanism by which humans reproduce would cause no harm, but may instead serve to liberate their minds and provide necessary knowledge as to how the world works.

As they say, the truth shall set you free.