The kids are on break right now while their mother gets ready for the next school year. So our house is filled with slamming doors, shouting, annoying music (How much Newsboys can I bear?) and in general the happy clatter of a house full of kids who normally live a very structured life and have just been handed two weeks of nothing.
Well, not exactly nothing. I told them to keep their P.E. going, so at 10AM they are running laps around the campus. And Hilary and I thought we should do a unit on sex education. The next book in their curriculum is What’s The Big Deal? Why God Cares About Sex by Stan and Brenna Jones. Well, if the kids are noisy during the rest of the day, they get mighty quiet for the half hour that we’re reading through this book! It is organized as a dialogue between a Mom and Dad and their son and daughter. You are encouraged to allow parents to read the parents’ parts and kids the kids’. Only one of our boys was willing to read and he was the only one with questions and comments. The two older kids are dead silent. Get-me-outta-here silent. And the youngest? He’s just bored.
My parents never sat me down for “the talk.” But thanks to the wisdom found on the playground I had a rich childhood education regarding the facts of life. Truth is, I was so ignorant of the mechanics of human reproduction that… well, I’m too embarrassed to say. And I suppose that is what a book like this is all about. Confronting children with all the embarrassing information but allowing them to get a reasonably accurate idea of what it is all about from a trusted source rather than the bizarre urban mythology of dirty jokes and sitcom television.
So you might say a prayer for me. Some of the words in this book I’m not used to saying out loud. And any anecdotes from your learning experiences of the birds and the bees would be most appreciated.
Related post: Hints for homeschoolers in need of socialization
I had a boss who recounted his father’s kind words: “Son, I learned everything I know on the street… and so will you.” So, um, you can rest assured that you’re doing better than that guy did on this subject, ha ha!
Someone once advised us to get those “words I’m not used to saying out loud” out early – before the kids are too embarrassed to hear them from me. In other words, we try to address them naturally as early on as possible- even when the kids are still three and four. I’ve had to swallow hard a couple of times to be honest with some of the questions I’ve been asked by my kids, but I figure it’s going to be a bigger swallow in a few more years. “Courage” as the French say; this too shall pass.
PS. Keep us posted.
Ben, surely the problem with getting yourselves and your kids used to saying these words without embarrassment comes when you find yourselves or them using these words in church, or at home when an elder or deacon is visiting!
I’m sure they need to learn this. Some friends of mine once invited a (new to their area) single parent family (all girls) on a picnic with them. Soon their four-year old boy wanted a wee. The youngest girl in the new family took this as a cure to want one too. As the respective parents took their four year olds into the bushes, the girl looked over at the boy in admiration: “That’s a really good thing to bring on a picnic. Mummy, can I have one too?”
Actually, David, I remember very clearly trying to have “the talk” with you at the kitchen table. You told me very impatiently that you had already picked it up “on the street” and could you go now, the guys are waiting. I think I was relieved. Mom
Mom, thank you for clarification. I don’t remember “the talk” only oatmeal.
Janet, haven’t you realised yet that boys don’t take any notice of and don’t even remember anything you try to tell them when they are in a hurry to go out and play?