So yesterday after a funfilled day outside we sat down to dinner, late as usual. Haha! We prayed, started eating and conversing. I asked our son about a birthday party he attended earlier. We all talked about the end of the school year. And then it happened. The conversation went somewhere no parent wants it to go. And the crazy thing is it came out of know where! It hit me like a brick wall. Like my head literally got thrown against a wall…I couldn’t think clearly. My mouth dropped open. Eyes bulged! And I was uttered speechless for seconds after our adorable kindergartener asked, “When do women become women and men become men?”
Me, “Umm…”
Husband, “Well….”
Me, “Ummm…”
Son, “Seriously, when do men become men and women became women? TELL ME!”
Me, “See…umm…”
Husband (staring at son)
At this point my once cozy comfortable quaint kitchen table became the most uncomfortable place in the world. All I kept thinking was PASS. Pass, can I pass…next question please…ask me about anything…geometry, trigonometry, chemical compounds, etc. just not this…can I get a new topic, PLEASE? Darn their inquisitive little minds. Haha! And then I had an idea!
Me, “Well, men become men when they graduate from school, get a job, and a place of their own. And women become women when they graduate, get a job (and I wanted to say respect themselves enough not to settle for less than a man…but that might have been way too complicated for his little kindergartener brain) and get a place of their own. Haha!
So there you have it folks, the talk about human sexuality and how a girl becomes a woman and boy becomes a man. Lol! So we might have epically failed but can you blame us? The kid blindsided us. Why can’t they give us fair warning when it comes to conversations like this? We parents need time to determine the best angle to broach such a topic. But that’s the thing about parenthood, no warnings, no cliff notes (how awesome would that be…seconds after they are born the doctor hands you the cliff notes for the next 18 years…let’s be honest I’d probably lose them)just shoot from the hip and pray it all makes sense.
God bless parent everywhere, this job isn’t easy and sometimes we just need to give ourselves a break and remember tomorrow is a new day…and the library is a great resource for age appropriate books that discuss various topics, like how a man becomes a man and a woman becomes a woman. Haha!
Mom on the go in Holy Toledo 