One evening, in the midst¹ of dinner preparation, our 10-year-old daughter asked, "Mommy, what's puberty?" My wife was rushed at the moment, so she suggested that Peggy look up the word in the dictionary, after which they could talk about it.

A few minutes later, Peggy returned. Her mother asked what the dictionary had said. "Puberty means," announced Peggy, "the earliest age at which a girl is able to bear children."

"What do you think of that?" my wife asked.

"I'm not sure," Peggy relied². "I've always been able to bear children. It's adults I can't bear".