Carly has a big heart, roughly eight dollars in loose change, and a box full of family-friendly questions we ask ourselves at dinner.

Here’s a question:

If you were given $1 million to give to a charity, which charity would you choose?

Naturally, this query begs the question: what’s a charity? And the best way to answer a 5 year-old is with real-world examples. “Well,” said I, “when your dad and I got married, we were so pleased that we had been lucky enough to adopt Charlotte (who was our dog – the greatest dog!), that we made a donation to our local humane society in honor of every guest: $5 per person. The humane society is a charity: it helps people or pets.

“And, when I was pregnant with you, we made a donation to the Fistula Foundation in honor of all of the gifts we received at the baby shower.” (How to explain?) “The Fistula Foundation helps repair women’s cooies (she’s 5!) when they get broken as babies come out.”

We went through a few different ideas: St. Jude, the ASPCA, local soup kitchens, the United Way, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders. Then we spoke in terms of causes: education, women’s rights, animal welfare, etc.

Carly liked the idea of supporting an animal charity, and we discussed the difference between helping to provide shelter for homeless pets, medical care for sick pets, or working to prevent any kind of harm to animals.

She sighed. Then she said, “I have lots of money, you know? In my piggy bank, I do. I could give that money to a charity.” I must admit I got tearful.

“But I think I’d like to do what mom said,” she continued. (I couldn’t remember: what did I say?) “I think I’d like to give money to help fix women’s cooies.”

This from the 9 1/2 pound baby with the 14-inch head?! It will be the most appropriate $8 the Fistula Foundation ever receives.