The illustrated story by the psychiatrist SergeTisseron, which Eugin is giving its patients as support in order to address the subject of origins with their children, has exceeded 2,000 web downloads
“Mummy, where did I come from?”. That is how the first awkward conversation that parents have with their children usually begins, a sort of rite of passage which, it has to be said, adults don’t always manage to pull off successfully. For couples who have resorted to assisted reproduction, it is natural to live through this moment with an extra dose of tension.
At Eugin we firmly believe that fertility treatments do not lead to the end of a process, but rather mark the beginning of a fantastic stage of life full of challenges and rewards. For this reason, for the last few years we have been giving our patients a small digital book to help them address the delicate question of origins. The Baby Seed Mystery is an illustrated fable in which an owl, an elephant, a lizard and a penguin explain the various possibilities of conceiving to a boy who wants to know how he was conceived. Designed to be read as a family, it offers clear and simple answers so that children conceived in a “different way” are able to build their identity without complexes or secrets.
The number of downloads for this little work has recently exceeded 2,000, which is a small success that makes us very happy. We are delighted with the great reception The Baby Seed Mystery has had from day one and we encourage all women who have successfully completed treatment at the clinic and have not yet had the opportunity to download it to consult it.
In the words of the author, Serge Tisseron, the French psychiatrist, it aims to be “a support that allows parents to talk about this matter to their children at a very early age, in simple words and with adapted images”.
When to talk about it?
Experts recommend addressing the subject of origins when children are between 3 and 5 years of age. Getting youngsters of this age to understand that they are children born to their parents but, for example, without the genetic load of one of them, is no easy task. It is therefore very important to find the right time, act naturally, physically position yourself at the same height and offer simple explanations supported by visual and gestural elements. “It’s a waste of time explaining everything at once. If the child asks how he was born, it doesn’t help at all if the parents explain that they couldn’t have children, that they went to the doctor once, twice, that they went to the hospital … you have to just explain the bare essentials” Tisseron points out.
According to Eugin Clinic psychologist Laura Venereo, if the parents agree to tell the child what his or her origins are, “this kind of book is a good support tool for the little one to understand and accept in a natural way the explanations about their conception.”
We appreciate the trust you place in us and hope that The Baby Seed Mystery continues being helpful so that many parents may face their first great parent-child talk with assurance.
