I don’t know if there’s a catchphrase for today’s generation of kids, but if I could coin one for six-year-olds, it would be ‘The Age of Endless Questions,’ a description that Nia personifies to a T.

No matter where we are—pushing a cart through the grocery store, on our way to dance class or leaving the school’s pick-up line after the last bell rings— our oldest daughter is an energetic bundle of inquiries:
“Why do some people hate the President, Mommy?” “Why is everybody in the family different shades of brown?” “Daddy, how do babies get here?”

Are the questions always as simple or straight-forward or simple? Not by a long shot. But what Calvin and I have chosen to do as her parents is to find the most accurate answers from experience or educational sources. We want to be as honest as possible while keeping her childhood innocence intact, even when it comes to the touchy subjects of sexuality and childbearing.

This is why I’m perplexed about the uproar surrounding Breast Milk Baby, a new doll by Berjuan Toys.

The toy was introduced to US markets a couple of weeks ago in time for the Christmas shopping season. The male and female infant dolls (which come in a variety of expressions and skin tones) are controversial for one reason: they make slurping noises when held against the accompanying halter top (that the child would wear while holding the doll), which mimic the sounds of a hungrily drinking, breastfeeding baby.

And this would be a bad thing because…..? The way some people are carrying on, you’d think the doll came with instructions on how to create a meth lab or encouraged kids to urinate in public.

Retailers, as a result of the controversy, are reluctant to stock the product in their stores and for now, the toy company offers them almost exclusively online.

“We’ve had a lot of support from lots of breastfeeding organizations, lots of mothers, lots of educators,” Dennis Lewis, Berjuan Toys’ U.S. representative, told news outlets recently. “There also has been a lot of blowback from….people that either have problems with breastfeeding in general, or they see it as something sexual.”

That has to be the reason, especially when folks like Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly speak against it publicly by stating, “I just want the kids to be kids. We don’t need this.”

What don’t we need, exactly? A doll introducing kids to the very common and very natural process of mothers feeding self-made nourishment to their babies? Why shouldn’t kids be made aware of the practice, and why would acquiring that knowledge suddenly propel them into adulthood?

Unfortunately, it seems more agreeable to society at large that women’s breasts are objectified solely for sex appeal instead of assigned to their primary purpose, which is (gasp) suckling infants.

Thanks to the birth of her younger sister, Nia was exposed to the act of breastfeeding once Layla and I were discharged from the hospital. Did she barrage me with a bunch of questions about what was going on and why I did it? Sure, just like her older brother did when she was the new baby being fed from the breast.

However, I didn’t want her to feel bad about being curious or develop a growing sense of shame about her own body. I kept it simple and said that yes, women’s breasts can make milk, and until Layla got older, Mommy’s milk was her source of nourishment.

After hearing my response, Nia went on being a regular little girl, not one pre-occupied with baby-making and all of the adult issues that come with it.

When it comes to toys, parents should use discernment to avoid perpetuating a harmful message. But if machine-gun-styled Super Soakers are deemed more acceptable than a life-like baby doll, perhaps, instead, it’s the intent that should be judged.