*If you happen to be of the male population and stumble upon this post (dad, Pastor Brad), feel free to use the back button. My feelings won't be hurt. ;-)
So, we talk about boobies rather freely in our home. With four girls, I figure it's bound to come up eventually, might as well not act as though they don't exist. The princesses, for some unexplained reason like to refer to them as "piggies". Don't ask. I don't know.
I'm hoping that being naturally open to discussion about "piggies" will lead to more comfortable discussions about more *ahem* tricky topics.
It's just a reality I have to face as a mommy to four princesses. There's gonna be a lot of boobies in our house. And tampons. And hormones. You know what the number one thing people say to me when they find out I have four girls? "Just wait until they're teenagers!"
Yeah. Don't remind me.
But seriously, I don't want to just gloss over this stuff with them. Becoming a woman is a big deal. And it's too important to shy away from, or even worse, hope they learn it from someone else. And let's face it, boobies are everywhere these days. Just tonight I was watching the new Tinkerbell movie with the princesses and noticed that Tinkerbell herself is quite well endowed. And the debate over Barbie's figure has been going on for years.I don't entirely begrudge the fact that media has drilled into my kid's heads that women have boobies (although I might be a teensy bit perturbed that Tinkerbell's boobs are bigger than mine. I mean, c'mon. My boobs were not my own for a combined total of 5 years. You think I would have gotten a little kick back.). It's a reality of life and while it used to be commonplace to not discuss these things with your children, I'm grateful to have opportunities come up.
I still expect a few awkward conversations, but hopefully we can establish an atmosphere of openness where we can talk about "piggies" without blushing. I do hope they drop the "piggies" nickname sometime though. THAT can be embarrassing.
My friends, how are you handling (or planning to handle) the coming of age conversations?
Mine were not my own for the better part of 15 years. Does that mean I get a bigger kick back? Because I'm not seeing it. ;)
ReplyDeleteTif, I think we're both screwed.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. I think it's so important to be willing to have those "embarrassing" conversations openly because if you don't, they will get answers somewhere else & who knows how accurate those answers may be.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, my oldest converted the word "nipples" to "nibbles." It was so hilariously appropriate, I still haven't corrected him (he's 7)...he's going to hate me for that one day!
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny! My 4 year old referes to them as "Boodies" and I don't know why, probably for the same reason she calls Barbies "Darbies." Anyway, we talk about them, she knows she will get a pair when she grows up, but we try not to focus on it. My husband was raised in a household where no topic was off limits, I was raised in the opposite manner. So, I'm hoping we'll be able to lean on him and his ability to say anything to anyone to handle the tougher conversations. I really do want an open line of communication about ANYTHING with my girls.
ReplyDeleteGives a whole new meaning to "little piggies!" My girls are just as fascinated!
ReplyDeleteI had a friend in High School who told me what her mom did when they had to have "the" talk and it has stuck with me ever since in the hopes that I can be as cool a mom as Carol was.
ReplyDeleteBasically she (Carol) wrote a letter to some of her daughters friends parents (follow?) explaining what she was going to do and if they agreed could their daughters join.
She rented a hotel room, they had a fun night hanging out together (I don't remember specifics of what they did) and then Carol had gotten some movies from the library about getting your period and sex, etc. And they watched them. Then it was an open forum, you asked the question, whatever it was, and Carol honestly tried to answer it to the best of her knowledge in the best way she could.
I thought it was an awesome idea. Keeping in mind that Carol was an amazing woman of God. Still is.
So yeah, I hope I can be that open and cool about it.