arndt@lymph.DEC (05/06/85)
I was driving the family around town the other day, mindin' my own business,
when from the rear of the car comes the sweet little voice of my four year
old muppet daughter:
"How do you make love?"
"What?" (Mom and I look at each other with a sense of
forboding - I had thought I'd have till she
was nine or ten at least.)
"With your fingers."
"WHAT!!"
By this time I was trying to stay on the road and running down the list of all
my daughter's rotten little friends and thinking of selling the house and . . .
*************************************************
It took strength to turn around and speak calmly with her about her question.
Turns out she wanted to know how to make the hand sign for LOVE!!!! Had no
idea of our problem. Mr. Rogers DIDN'T let me down.
My wife and I screamed and laughed so hard I almost had to pull over and stop
the car.
Sigh. But those days are comin'.
How have YOU guys dealt with 'those days'. "Over to you dear." "Here's a book,even has some pictures." "Well dear, you see . . . er . . . there's this littleegg and . . . cough, cough, . . . no, no, I'm all right, now let's see, where
were we . . . oh yes, the egg."
It seems to me that something as important as this, for which WE RECEIVE NO FORMOF FORMAL TRAINING, in really not provided for in most child rearing settings.
I don't mean just 'the facts' but male/female relationships. We've stressed the'sameness' so much in the recent past, what about he differences? How do we
tell our boy children to be responsive to the other kind and visa versa? I hateto think of that 'broad' on the TV teaching my kids 'good sex'. But where are
they to learn if not from me? So much of the appeal made to our children,
especially in advertising sends the wrong message I feel about man/woman
relationships and even what it means to BE a man/woman. What are you telling
your kids. I expect to TALK to mine about EVERYTHING. Is that a silly hope?
Comments?
Regards,
Ken Arndtdwl10@amdahl.UUCP (Dave Lowrey) (05/09/85)
Ken says this about teaching his child about sex....
>I expect to TALK to mine about EVERYTHING. Is that a silly hope?
I hpoe not, but I suspect that kids will talk to you about sex, until
they really become interested in it. Then will come the silence.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Lowrey
"To vacillate or not to vacillate, that is the question....
....or is it?"
...!{nsc,sun,hplabs,ihnp4}!amdahl!dwl10
[ The opinions expressed <may> be those of the author and not necessarily
those of his most eminent employer. ]susan@vaxwaller.UUCP (Susan Finkelman) (05/13/85)
> Ken says this about teaching his child about sex.... > >I expect to TALK to mine about EVERYTHING. Is that a silly hope? > > I hpoe not, but I suspect that kids will talk to you about sex, until > they really become interested in it. Then will come the silence. > -- > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > Dave Lowrey Well, I tend to agree with Dave about kids no longer talking to parents when sex becomes important. But there are other trustworthy adults around and kids should know that when they don't feel comfortable with their parents that there are alternatives. My godmother and my grandmother both served this function. I don't know what the current paranoia about child abuse is going to do to close relationships outside the immediate family, but I wonder... Susan Finkelman, Varian, 2700 Mitchell Dr, Walnut Creek, Ca. 94598 {zehntel,amd,fortune,resonex,rtech}!varian!susan
hsc@mtuxo.UUCP (h.cohen) (05/16/85)
We are partial to a number of the books from Ed-U-Press (P.O. Box 583, Fayetteville, NY 13066, tel. 315-637-9524), especially those by Sol Gordon (the male psychologist in the "Strong Kids, Safe Kids" video tape). We started reading "Did the Sun Shine Before You Were Borne?" to Samuel when he was about four. Now that he's almost five, I happened to remark to him one evening when he was being extra nice: "What did your mother and I do to get such a sweet, smart, beautiful boy?" "Oh, simple!..." carolled he, and proceded to explain exactly what we did.