The funny (not funny) thing about being a parent is that you lose sight of what is socially-appropriate for conversation. The filter goes and suddenly you find yourself talking about poop at a cocktail party.
“Tyler had the worst diarrhea diaper the other day. Pass the olives.”
[Obviously I don’t get invited to many cocktail parties.]
My mother had the opposite problem. She refused to discuss anything between the shoulders and the knees, or as she would call it, the Danger Zone.
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| (I'm a pretty talented artist.) |
Any question remotely crotch-related was immediately tabled for later [never] discussion. Therefore, many details of the human body were left a mystery to me until I was way too old to ask for clarification. My teen years were awkward.
Ironically, despite having no real sexual education myself, I was hired to teach sex ed my second year of teaching. It was for one semester, to fill a scheduling gap, and sexuality was just one unit in a broader health course -- but it was intense. When it comes to sex education, they do it a little differently in the public schools than in the Catholic schools. The diagram of the female anatomy had, like, eight more parts than the one I'd seen in school. Ours was basically just a nondescript shape with two little circles attached to it and a picture of the Baby Jesus floating ominously in the middle.
Two children later, I’ve figured out the basics. (Wink-wink nudge-nudge. I’m a cool kid now.) One day I will have to decide where I stand on the "Danger Zone" issue when it comes to my own kids. While my mom’s approach seems a little hyper-conservative, she did successfully raised a virgin college graduate -- yeah, I said it -- and there is some appeal in that. But does ignorance always result in abstinence? Take one visit to the Jersey Shore, and you will find it most certainly does not.
Ironically, despite having no real sexual education myself, I was hired to teach sex ed my second year of teaching. It was for one semester, to fill a scheduling gap, and sexuality was just one unit in a broader health course -- but it was intense. When it comes to sex education, they do it a little differently in the public schools than in the Catholic schools. The diagram of the female anatomy had, like, eight more parts than the one I'd seen in school. Ours was basically just a nondescript shape with two little circles attached to it and a picture of the Baby Jesus floating ominously in the middle.
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