As I have mentioned before, I have 3 boy children. I realize that being a mom to boys has shaped my life and who I am in many ways. I know that if I had given birth to even one girl, I would be a different person in some ways.
One of my favorite things is taking my boys to school. My husband and I switch taking them according to our schedules, but I LOVE my days to take them because of the conversations we have. I don't know if it is because we have a captive audience, or because we are all just a bit more candid at 8am. You can ask any of them, I have no filter at any time of the day, so maybe they are more candid? Whatever the reason, our morning conversations are some of the most true - authentic - conversations of the day.
This morning, I happened to say to my 9th grader, "I got an email that y'all are having a sex and health talk in a few days." He said, "oh, yeah, I got that email too." About that time, my 10th grader chimed in and said, "We just had an STD talk that came with pictures." As you can imagine, this opened a door that I had to walk through!
-Now I understand that we all have our different opinions on what and when or if this stuff should be taught in school. We are all entitled to our opinions. You don't have to agree with mine and I don't have to agree with yours, but we can respect each other enough to have our own. -
I asked if any of the pictures were of mouths and how nasty that can
be. My 10th grader say "Yes! It was so nasty! It was disturbing!" To
which I responded, "you can not be too careful about where you put your
stuff! You boys need to keep your stuff clean and unused, and look for
clean, saved stuff when you look for a woman to spend your life with.
You can't expect to be given new stuff if your stuff is rotten." They
both agreed that they don't want rotten stuff. And, if their stuff is
dirty, it's not right think it's ok to dirty up someone elses stuff. And
the only way to absolutely keep their stuff clean is to SAVE THEIR
STUFF!
We always seem to end up laughing at the end of
conversations that have serious content. It is really important for
them to understand that it is serious, but that they are loved and they
know what our family values are on the subject. We usually title the
conversation, like "Conversations with Mom - Save your stuff" When I
let them out of the car, I released them with the main idea of the day
being "Save your stuff for stuff that has been saved."
Don't judge. The terminology was way wrong, but they got the point, and the point is what matters.
