category: Blog
I just found out that Ella’s 5th grade class is going to be having their “puberty talk” in the spring. I found myself having very mixed emotions about this. My daughter probably knows more than most about the subject, having me as a mother, so it’s not that that worries me. What I am worried about is that her body will be represented as something medical or something negative. I am extremely careful about how we discuss our bodies and its cycles; I don’t want some stupid film to mess all of that up.
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So, now I am trying to decide: Do I let her see it? Or do I keep her home that day? I know she wants to see it, mostly because she doesn’t want to be the only one in her class not to have seen it; I can totally understand that. I don’t want Ella to be teased for not going to this “puberty day”, I want her to know what her classmates know, and most of all, if she’s curious about it, she should know. However, I will absolutely be doing my own “puberty day” at home first. So she can know how amazing and beautiful she is and how many choices she has for her menstrual cycle, not just disposable pads and a bottle of Tylenol.
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All of this talk begs me to question: Is this where it all starts? Is this where I really have to start worrying about her thinking about her body and sex? I know most of you are thinking that she probably has been already, but she really doesn’t. She has very little interest in boys, she’s had one crush and it wasn’t that big of a deal for her; she knows girls her age who have boyfriends and she just can’t believe they would waste their time on such things. I love this about her, my strong, confident girl. I know she will like boys and obsess about a boyfriend soon enough, everyone goes through that time. But, I try to keep her focus on more important things: school, track, friends, family, etc. I tell her that she will have plenty of time for boys, just concentrate on being a kid and enjoying life for now, because that’s one thing I wish someone had told me when I was her age.
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Question: Did your daughter/son have” the talk” at school yet? How did it go?
