When families are asked such a question, they usually worry that their children will not be able to understand the answer they want to give, and they think that they should learn the truth when the time comes.
So, why storks were mentioned and continue to be mentioned in order to answer this question, which cannot be clearly expressed to us?
It is possible to say that this legend goes back to Ancient Greece, where cranes, which actually share many physical similarities with storks, were associated with stealing babies.
According to the story, Hera, the goddess of birth in Greek mythology, turned her rival Gerena into a tall crane because she had an affair with her husband, Zeus. Not wanting to be separated from her newborn child, Gerena wraps the baby in a blanket and flies away with her child in her beak.
In addition, Paul Quinn states that the crane legend evolved into a stork over time. Because storks are animals that nest on the roofs of houses and live very close to humans.
A professor from London said that these animals are always associated with family life due to their nature and behavior, and that storks come to the rescue of babies in fairy tales; He adds that he plays a savior role in ponds, marshes or wells.
By the 19th century, storks began to come to the fore even more in fairy tales.
Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “Storks”, published at the beginning of the 19th century, had a great role in popularizing and spreading this legend. In Andersen’s tale, storks are expected to take newborn babies to their families.
Again in this book, it is mentioned that babies have sweet dreams that they cannot even imagine in the future, and children are very excited to have a younger sister or brother.
In addition, this tale of Andersen spread almost all over the world during the period and became very popular.
The London professor also states that the stork legend became a scenario in Victorian England when families wanted to avoid questions about sexual intercourse and childbirth.
This stork legend continues to exist and spread in popular culture, although not as much as in the past.
The discourses that storks bring babies continue to take their place on the teaching cards of kindergarten level children, with the simplest example, and some families say, “How was I born?” In response to his question, he continues to hide behind this story.
In fact, another situation that is identified with this story is the “stork bite”. Various birthmarks, which appear on the skin of newborns and appear with the dilation of thin blood vessels, are called this way by the influence of the folk tale.
This legend continues to be told to children in Western societies that they are sometimes born and raised in pumpkin fields. This story probably stems from a connection that some people have made between crops and fertility.
Spring Chenoa Cooper, who specializes in sexual health, says these veiled and untrue narratives are surprisingly common.
The expert underlines that the reason for this is that most parents are undecided about when and how to explain the scientific thing, and that many people do not know how to explain sexual intercourse to their very young children.
However, she adds that she is very concerned that these implicit or far-fetched expressions and definitions on children may invite serious problems in the future at the point of talking about sexuality for children, and that it may go to the point of sexual assault.
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