Over a Sugar Bowl

This week is LM's week of "health education' for fifth graders. I had prepped him as best I knew how, telling him that he could ask as many questions as he wanted when he arrived home and that sometimes asking in front of the other boys can be embarrassing even if the teachers tried their best not to make it uncomfortable.

Tonight, over dinner (steak and potatoes, corn, applesauce and deviled eggs) LM said he had a couple questions, did I mind? Absolutely not, I said, fire away.

He basically wanted to clarify the idea that a boys penis went into a girls butt. I explained. He had a couple other questions, but they seemed to have explained things fairly well at school. We talked about how I had always told him that sex was something that happens between a mom and a dad and how now that he better understood, he might see how it could happen between any girl and any boy and yet God intended it to be for marriage only. (Yes, I know, he'll have oodles of questions about his dad eventually, but tonight he said he was fine not understanding that, and I was fine not explaining.)

We had some good laughs, explained some embarrassing things (he now understood about a girl's cycle, but he wondered about me because he had never had any inclination that had been going on. I think he was actually worried about me!)

We talked about things like kissing and so forth and LM said he wasn't so much concerned about HOW to kiss a girl (although he was quick to point out that he was in NO RUSH to do so!!) but he was more concerned with how to approach the idea with a girl. He starts a pretend conversation, "So, uh, do ya uh, I mean..." and laughs at himself. He said, "In books and in the movies it always seems like it happens over a sugar bowl." He pantomimes pulling out a sugar bowl, filling it and pretends to set it in front of an imaginary girl so she might know that he wanted to kiss her. LM laughed at the idea. "Crazy," he said.

Crazy, yes. But sweet!

*Update: Before he crawled into bed, he decided he had another question. If the boy's penis doesn't go into a girl's butt, but goes into another hole - where exactly is this other hole? Oh my. Our discussions also led to the realization that he thought (due to the teacher's explanation of wet dreams) that sperm could only come out of a boy's penis at night. I think I carefully clarified all points. WHEW! LM got to giggling at one point and I could tell he was embarrassed about what he wanted to say, but he eventually shared that the teacher had given them a diagram of the female reproductive system and asked them to label as much as they could. Jacob knew the "egg" and knew another area, but couldn't remember the technical name for it, and said he was certain the teacher didn't want him to write down the slang term. I asked what organ he was speaking of and he blushed and said, "the boobs, Mom." He remembered later that they are technically called "breasts" but at the time he said, it just didn't seem appropriate to write the word "boob" on a paper for school!!

Comments

jenny said…
yow. my stomach just did a flip.

fifth grade, you say? so it's with a ulterior motive i will ask my boy's fourth grade teacher to hold him back. FOREVER.

that you have a son that will talk to you is such a treasure.
Anonymous said…
What a sweet (and perhaps slightly awkward) illustration of the enviable relationship you have with LM.
Jen said…
Oh, what I have to look forward to with my two boys. It's great that you two are so open with each other. I have always thought that good communication is the key to parenting.
Sarah Louise said…
You rock! My mom gave me pamphlets. I read romance novels. Bad combination. Good for you for being able to be frank and laugh over it too. I give you a gold star for "#1 Mom Sex Talk"!!
Lisa said…
It's great that you both have such a good relationship with each other. I think you did just fine!
~ej said…
glad it went well, it's a hard talk, not looking forward to doing it again (and again....).

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