Thursday, November 1

Norman Rockwell 4



Do you remember when your parent(s) told you about the Facts of Life? Did you have that same horrified look of skepticism on your face? That boy was thinking...."You put what....where? No way! EW! You can't be serious!"

When my son was 8-9, he came home from school one day with some tidbits of mis-information about sex, so I decided it was time to have "the talk." Our doctor had given me a booklet for the kids to read and discuss, so I handed it to my son and told him to read it and then we would discuss the information and I'd answer his questions.

I was a little put out to be doing "the talk" with my son, thinking it was a task that mr. kenju should tackle. Mr. kenju was not up to it (red-faced at the prospect) so I took it on. After my son read the book, he came to me with a sheepish look on his face, and I asked if he had any questions for me. He said, "When do you do it?" I replied...."What do you mean 'When do you do it?' and he said "Don't you have to make an appointment?" I was puzzled at the question, and said "Why would we have to make an appointment?" He said...."It sounds like something you'd have to do at the doctor's office."

I had to bite my lip in order not to laugh. The poor little guy had the idea you'd have to do that under a doctor's supervision, lest you do it wrong!

What do you remember thinking when you first heard about the birds and the bees?

26 comments:

OldLady Of The Hills said...

LOL, LOL, LOL...What a wonderful story Judy....Sweet and innocent.

You know I don't remember at all how I learned about "the birds and the bees"....whatever information I got was told in such a way that none of it seemed to strange to me...But, that is what I remember now!!! (LOL)

I love the cat all curled up under Daddy's chair, too...It is so "at home with the folks"...you know?

Michele sent me over tonight, but you know I am here all of the time...
Hope you watvhed "Mad Men"...I am going to see it again, myself in just about one hour from now!

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Oh, and those two cute kittens, too....LOL! I didn't really take them in until I clicked on the picture to make it bigger, wanting to see all the wonderful details Rockwell ALWAYS had in all his illustrations....I guess that must be Momma Cat, under the chair, resting up from her two baby's shenanigans....lol

Joy Des Jardins said...

I love your story Judy. I didn't learn about the 'birds and the bees' from my mother. For some reason she must have felt awkward about discussing it with me. She could barely make it through menstruation with me. To this day I don't know what was so difficult for her. I learned a lot from friends....and on my own.

JeanMac said...

Too cute a story.

Evil Twin's Wife said...

I was such an avid reader (still am!) that I didn't hear much from my parents - I learned it from books.

Now that Buddy is nearly 10, I think it's time for the Evil Twin to have "the talk" with him, but he keeps avoiding it. However, Buddy has never questioned anything yet. When I got pregnant with Sissy, Buddy was 7 (8 when she was born) and we told him the truth about how she got out - I had c-sections with both of them, but he never asked how she got IN there. LOL.

Anonymous said...

Oh, your poor son! That made me laugh out loud here! The birds and the bees convo sure is difficult to bring up with the kids. My parents never talked to me about it, but at least I had the common sense to figure it out! Like Joy, my mom didn't talk to me about pms, and I really wish she had! I guess maybe that was their generation's way of handling things... I'm not sure.
I talked to both my girls about the birds, bees and the need for lots of chocolate at the end of the month, and so glad that's over with!

Raggedy said...

What a wonderful story..
Thank you for sharing..
I don't remember having actual sit downs with my children about it. We have had discussions little bits at a time on the subject as needed. They are comfortable with themselves and the subject.
Have a wonderful day!
*^_^
(=':'=) huggles
(")_ (")Š from
the Cool Raggedy one

Beverly said...

Oh, that is so classic. Funny. I stopped in Santee, Scouth Carolina last night...on my way now in just a few minutes.

ribbiticus said...

like most of my generation, i learned about the birds and the bees through friends. my parents weren't the typet o sit us down and discuss "such things" with us. boy, did we giggle a lot!

that norman rockwell image is classic! ;)

p.s. so sorry to have been a stranger these past months. have been so busy at work, i haven't had time to blog. much less, visit friends. am off for 2 weeks, though, so i will be dropping by more often. :)

Anne said...

Cute story. I can't remember what I thought at the time when I got the talk, except it seemed gross. I tried to have the talk with my daughter recently, but she was uncomfortable and cut me off as soon as she could. Now I just drop little bits into regular conversations as best I can.

Michele sent me.

Anonymous said...

Lol!

I don't remember how I learnt about birds and bees. Indian parents selom talk aboutit to their children. My parents were no better.

I do remember thinking about it a lot after I learnt it I think from my friends.

Now as a teacher, I do talk about it to my students. The younger the better.

Michele sent me here to think about it!

Changes in the wind said...

I will share a cute story about my step-son. We were driving in the car and had seen a cat with her newborn kittens..he started telling me that those kittens were eating where the cat went to the bathroom. I told him no they were nursing on her tits. He said where are they...I casually pointed to mine. He pulled out his shirt and looked at his and said....THOSE!

I have to agree with oldoldlady of the Hills...the information did not seem strange so must have not been a one time thing.

tiff said...

I KNOW I thought "hell NO, I'm never doing THAT."

Wan't the last time I'd eat my words. Heh.

Kristi said...

LOL. Oh, that's just so funny. What a cutie, your son!

I remember sitting on the front steps of my childhood home with my mom. I was 10. And I remember being absolutely horrified and grossed out by the concept!

Carolyn said...

In 6th grade they ran the boys out of the classroom and showed us girls a film, but it didn't really explain how it all came about, lol!

Months later, my mom laid some undergarments on my bed and kind of left it up to me when to use them, but she never explained how it all came about, lol!

Then on my wedding day (I was married 1st time at 18) I already knew, but my parents took the liberty of slipping some various forms of birth control in my suitcase that morning. But they still never explained how it all came about, LOL!

Smiler said...

I was conceived on an acid trip. Friends of mine were the products of orgies. There was no such thing as birds and bees. We had all the facts straight from the word go! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Michele sent me to read this story, and I laughed so much it cracked the clay masque on my face (which, I guess, means it's time to scrub it off).

In any case...I think I had a copy of "Where Did I Come From" when I was about five...I got in trouble for bringing it to school.

Anonymous said...

I'm laughing and laughing! This is a delightful bit of blog fodder, presented in the sweetest way. Thanks! My dad was gone by then and my mom wasn't really into child instruction of any sort so what I remember is the class at school (girls only!) where we got the "pink book" and saw samples of Kimberly Clark products. When we tried to tell Dan the facts of life- he was six and I was pregnant with Abby so the time seemd right- he squirmed and fidgeted and walked his feet up the wall while on his bed and then he said, "Why are you fooling me like this?" So we decided he wasn't quite ready. :-)

OldHorsetailSnake said...

I never heard about the birds and bees. Bigger kids in my neighborhood told me more than I wanted to know. But I think my Mom would have had to do it; Dad was too shy. Unfortunately, I never did learn whether the birds and bees do it.

100 Thoughts of Love said...

very cute story...at 7 years old my son told me he knew all about sex and babies...he said, yep, man kisses lady, shoots a sperm from his nose to hers, nbaby comes out belly button...I let it go at that! Very fun blog, thanks!!

brendalove@gmail.com said...

You mean....we DON'T need supervision?

BreadBox said...

Judy, that's just a gorgeous story! Out of the mouths of babes, etc:-)

Michele sent me this time,
N.

Anonymous said...

Norman Rockwell is one of my favourites! ANd I absolutely loved your story ;)

Beverly said...

When I first heard, it was a fairly accurate version. I too thought as you said, You put what, where???
My brother decided that since I was a nurse, he wanted me to tell his daughter the facts. Great!!!Well, it was a good thing I had practice since I had to tell my two sons.

Tony Gasbarro said...

Well, the whole topic of discussion was circumvented for me when I was 5 years old by a kid down the block who purloined one of his father's hardcore porn magazines from their mailbox. I remember vividly the two of us paging through it in shocked disbelief.

When the topic of the facts of life came up on the playground and I heard other kids getting it wrong, I was too embarrassed to tell them what I knew for fear of having to explain how I knew.

Maybe it should be a lesson to parents that, if the kid never asks, he/she probably already knows the how of it, if not the why.

And one more thing... I feel the main reason in today's world that parents don't explain it to their kids is the fear of using the words of nomenclature that the kid will take to school, and of the overzealous school officials who might leap to a conclusion and call the cops.

Moon said...

I was about 8 yrs old, and we were watching an episode of Family Affair, remember the handsome Uncle Bill?..anyway the kids asked the (where do babies come from) question..and they did the all clean, correct ..when 2 ppl love eachother, they have a baby..answer...and I though, Hmmm something must be missing or babies would appear everywhere lol..so asked mom the REAL explanation....She did tell me the REAL explanation and I did have that ...incredulous look on my face..at the idea of HE DOES WHAT!!?? ..but mom was very thorough and shed much light on the baby making operation lol. I remember it like it was yesterday lol...