Sunday, September 09, 2007

Sex Education?

So carrying on from my post the other day about worrying about my son's sex education, I thought I'd share my experience of my parents sex education system! And maybe you guys would share with me your experiences?

Ok, so i was ten years old, it was Friday night bath time and my mum popped in for a chat, so I was told that soon I was gonna start to bleed, and it would last for a week, and some day it would mean I would be a woman one day! Oh and Santa Claus didn't really exist! I was left in the bath, feeling awful, and when I went into my room to get dressed there was a book on my bed...."Have you started yet?" That was the extent of my sex education and when I was 17 and sexually active my mother found my pill (and vodka) and took great joy in throwing everything down the drain!

Please share.....Please?


8 comments:

  1. Oh that sounds harsh, but actually your mother sounds like me! I would love to just blurt it all out to the kids in 3 sentences and be done with it and let them get on with life! Ha ha
    And if I found vodka and the pill in my daughters room I'd be shocked too! I'm so like your Mother!
    Great story about the bath, it makes you sound so vulnerable...aw.

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  2. I was vunerable.....imagine no santa, that was bad enough but then the whole bleeding thing was just an afterthought! She should have been delighted that I was using contraception, it was my then boyfriend, now husband I was sleeping with, not everyone! I'd be shocked too, but probably talk to my kid about it....if she'd found condoms in my brothers room she wouldn't have said anything!

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  3. Good lord, what a terrible combination. Have you associated Santa with bleeding ever since??

    My mother told me about the reproductive system, with a book with diagrams, and gave me a great book by Anne Dickson called 'The Mirror Within' - it's more of a teenagers'/grownups' book though. Very good. Tells you about your bits but more importantly how to feel good about yourself and your woman hood and your sexuality.

    At one point she worriedly asked me if she'd told me enough. I have to admnit, I don't remember much actual discussion, but I think Judy Bloom helped a lot with all that. My mother was very open and approachable though. She bought me condoms once. And memorably told me she had issues with blowjobs becaue of ingesting foreign proteins...


    I think the best thing you can do with your kids is tell them early with then help of a cute cartoony book, then give them tips on how to enjoy sex safely and be good at it later on.

    I've a friend whose mother gave her three boys condoms every wekend, until he actually started having sex, then she mysteriously stopped! Hypocrisy!

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  4. I don't remember how I knew (I'm the youngest of 4 that my mom had--we won't get into my family tree right now), I just did. My sister (11 years older) one day was reading me a story and said something about it, and I said, yes, I knew how it all works. I'm remembering now a book that my mom got us that explained things...

    My period was a different story...mom went and told EVERYONE. I was such a tomboy it was horrible. Never wanted to be a woman, still dont! :-)

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  5. God it's mad, such different experiences, Jo your mum sounds so lovely, I learned a lot from Judy Blume too....remember "ralph"?

    Polka after meeting your mum I don't think I'd have fancied your chances of keeping your "womanhood" a secret!!! he hehe he!

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  6. My neighbour didn't tell her mother when she had her period because she coudln't bear the thought of her talking about it with al lher friends. She was a very innocent girl with terrible self esteem. So as far as I know, she did without sanitary towels etc.

    It's so sad - my mother took me out to buy me a peice of commenorative jewellery, like a silver disc, or something approriately symbolic. I don't think we found the right thing, but I think that's how it should be done. Better than a 'period party' too!

    Heh, heh, women are taking over the blog... is there any comparative male experience? Will the dads bond with their sons in the woods?

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  7. Ya see I'm a boy so I was left a book on my bed and told "there y'are son. Bye!" No further mention was ever made of it from either side. Explains some of the strange attitudes I have to this day.

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  8. I was simply told, '(matter-of-factly) This means that now you can get pregnant...(apprehensively) but you wont, sure you wont?!'
    That was it.

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