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Kids learn about the birds and the bees at different ages, but where babies come from is a topic that kids will bring up at some point.

In this story, one mom clearly doesn’t seem ready to discuss that topic with her young children, and her clueless neighbor is throwing around terms that she finds inappropriate.

The thing is, all the neighbor was doing was honestly answering questions about her new dog.

Keep reading to see if you think she did anything wrong.

AITA for using proper terminology to neighborhood kids when answering their questions about my dog?

I (late 30’s F) recently bought my first home.

My neighbors are a married couple around my age with four kids – 3 boys who are somewhere in the K-3rd grade (US) age range, and an older girl but she was not present in this situation.

I’ve had very limited interactions with them, but we would always greet each other/friendly small talk, but now that they’re out of school the boys are outside a lot and are VERY interested in my pets since they do not have any of their own.

Her dog has been through a lot and has some issues.

One of my dogs, we will call her Pancake, is a pitbull I recently rescued who had been used for breeding for several years.

She is the sweetest girl in the world, but she has very evident signs of physical trauma. She has chronically swollen glands, and a dark, swollen, oddly shaped, very prominent reproductive organs.

She is now fixed, and I promise she sees a vet regularly to closely monitor these conditions, but she is doing great.

Soon after I brought her home the 3 boys all ran over to meet her when we were walking. Conversation went something like this. I don’t recall which kid asked what exactly:

The questions started right away.

Kid: What’s wrong with her?

Me: Nothing is wrong with her! This is Pancake and she is a very good girl and would love for you to pet her!

Kid: Why does her stomach look like that?

Me: Well, she came from a situation where people weren’t very nice to her and she was used for breeding for many years.

Now, we get to a slightly more complicated question.

Kid: What’s breeding?

Me: It’s when someone forces a girl dog like Pancake to have puppies so they can sell them. It’s not always very nice and can sometimes hurt the mom dog.

—Kid’s Mom starts to walk over, definitely within earshot—

And OP’s answers got more detailed.

Kid: How many puppies did she have?

Me: I don’t know exactly, but probably 60 or 70.

Kid: She looks like a cow.

Me: I can see why you think that. Those are her teats. It’s how she fed all of her babies. They’re just a little bit larger than you may be used to seeing on other dogs because she had so many babies and wasn’t always allowed to have proper time to recover.

Another question made the mom interject.

Kid: What’s on her butt? Is she going to the bathroom? (Lots of laughing.)

Me: No, she is not going to the bathroom. That is where all her puppies came out. It’s — (cut off by mom)

Mom: Seriously? These are children! What is wrong with you?

—Mom calls her boys to go inside—

Now, she’s wondering if she messed up.

Since this incident, the Mom has actively prevented the boys from coming over to see my dogs or talk to me, and has completely ignored my existence.

I’m not super hurt by this (although Pancake is), but I also don’t think I really did anything wrong.

That said, I do not have children. I’m not really close to anyone with children, so I have limited to no experience around them.

So, AITA for how I responded to their questions? Is there a more kid friendly term I should be aware of in case I’m faced with a similar situation in the future?

Personally, I wouldn’t answer a kid that age with terms that specific. She could’ve just left it as “no, there’s nothing wrong with her.” But, did the mom overreact?

Let’s see what Reddit has to say.

This person doesn’t think she did anything wrong.

Another person thinks the mom might’ve been upset for a different reason.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who is confronted by his high school bully and decides to steal his Nintendo DS.

This person shares a different way she could’ve answered the kids questions.

The kids might be more clueless than she realizes.

Keeping it vague would’ve been a better way to go. She probably confused the kids more than anything which is going to lead to more questions the parents have to answer. Depending on how old the kids really are, they may be too young for detailed answers.

Just because they asked doesn’t mean you have to give a detailed answer.