Comments on: Birds and the Bees

By: Paula R.

Paula R. — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:28:17 +0000

Hey Jules, sorry I was late to this one…great blog topic…

I never had the talk and everything I learned came from romance novels and health class…I probably would have died if my brother tried to tell me anything…

Peace and love,
Paula R.

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:07:54 +0000

When my daughter was five she started asking how babies get in their mother’s stomachs. She had asked for several days in a row, but always at extremely inconvenient times, so I kept putting her off but then forgetting. After a few days of this, we were in the middle of an extremely crowded mall on a holiday, and she stopped dead in her tracks and screamed as loud as she could, “I am not taking another step until you tell me how babies get in their mother’s stomachs!” I managed to convince her that if she would just peacefully come with me out to the car I would fill her in asap, and I did.

By: Venus Vaughn

Venus Vaughn — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:58:40 +0000

Where I grew up (Bermuda) we had Health class at the ages of 12 and 13 or so. We covered things like the physical and psychological effects of drug use and the mechanics and physiological effects of sex and birth control and even pregnancy.

I learned the emotions of it all from books, but the hows and whys of it all I learned in school.

Nowadays I meet way, WAY too many 18 / 19 / 20 year olds who don’t know the basics. They know how they feel, but they don’t know what the right choices are, much less how to make them. And I am the woman telling them the details.

TEACH YOUR KIDS!!! (the collective you, not, you know, you you)

Your teens will have sex. Accept it and arm them with the knowledge to get out of it STD and baby-free.

By: Julie Leto

Julie Leto — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:18:50 +0000

My daughter started reading THE CARE AND KEEPING OF YOU from American Girl over a year ago, but about six months ago, she read it cover to cover and we had a long talk. Didn’t cover sex…just the changes in her own body. It helps SO much that she’s so curious and scientific. She can be so dispassionate about things, she really would make a great doctor or scientist. Even the sex talk…well, because I wasn’t uncomfortable (on the outside! ) she wasn’t uncomfortable. She did think it was gross, but I figured at 11, I’m glad she thinks so! I promised her there would come a time where she didn’t find it all so distasteful!

Honestly, though, I think parents set the tenor. Yes, it can be very uncomfortable, but I’d rather have this discussion that a lot of other ones, if you know what I mean.

By: Dara

Dara — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:29:23 +0000

My mother bought some book on the life cycle, but by time she got around to making us read it, we’d already learned IT ALL from friends. I tried to talk to my daughter, but she can’t stand listening to me discuss anything like that! I think she’s convinced she was the product of an immacualte conception!

By: Patricia Barraclough

Patricia Barraclough — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:48:43 +0000

Never got the talk from my mother or anyone else. Yes it was a generational thing. My aunt came to the house 5 weeks before she delivered my cousin. I asked if she was pregnant (or going to have a baby) and you would have thought I had uttered a profanity. Everyone got flustered and denied it. The funny thing was they were at our house for her baby shower. The nuns at the convent where I went to school (as did my mother) wouldn’t even let you talk to boys let alone discuss sex. They were Dominicans and not any fun at all. I tried to have the talk with my kids when they were teens and was informed that sex ed at school had taken care of everything. I answered their questions as they asked them when they were growing up. Honest, scientific and not more than they need to know is the best route.

By: Estella

Estella — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:09:12 +0000

My Mom never gave me the talk, but you can bet I gave it to my daughters.

By: Carly

Carly — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:43:44 +0000

Hey, all! I’m chatting at Writerspace tonight, 9 PM EST! Please come visit me!
http://writerspace.com/chat/

By: katie

katie — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:51:08 +0000

Did anyone see the “Oprah’ show a while back on “the talk”? I was curious about what others thought.

By: Donna M

Donna M — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:49:11 +0000

What a good topic! My children are long past the stage where this was necessary! My mother did give me a talk but when I look back on it I don’t know that she ever gave me any advice or information about sex. It wasn’t a word that got mentioned as I remember. We did have a talk about the biological changes that happened in my body, bare minimum info. I tried to be more open with my girls but don’t know how well I covered that. I learned some info from school when they covered the subject in Phys. Ed. and a lot more from my older cousins! Along the way you just discover more from friends and life!! Thank heavens there is more information out there now to help parents educate their children.