11/7/09

Puberty looms

Every child living in my home is now into the second decade of life. Each is now sporting a double-digit age. I guess that qualifies them as preteens. Thus the specter of puberty is looming large in my mind. It is time to start teaching them more about what to expect regarding physical development in the next few years: armpit hair and such, "the curse", curves and bumps. I want to get to them before some of their more worldly peers teach them in all the wrong ways. Either that or "Coach" will teach them in Health class and who knows what he'll say!

They know some of this "birds and bees" stuff already. All three kiddies know that babies come from their Mom's tummy and that the baby doesn't come out of her mouth or her belly-button, but they are not exactly sure of the precise location of exit. (At least I don't think they know.) I'm really more concerned about preparing them for the physical happenings of puberty rather than teaching them about sex and childbirth. It seems like sometimes parents get so warped and worried about having "the talk" that they forget to warn their children that they are about to start "growing up". I remember the start of the process being slightly traumatizing myself, because when you haven't been properly informed and you get in the tub one day and...
Any-hoo!

I'm sure that Sister is the one I should talk with first, even though she's youngest, just because she's a girl and getting rather tall rather quickly; but since Sister tends to have very little shame and little control over her mouth, once I fill her in on all the joys of puberty, she will almost certainly pass the information on to her brothers. I'm not sure Orangeboy will believe any of it though. He tends to need to see and experience things himself before he believes it. I think the fantastic details of what happens to girls and boys when they grow up will be too much for him to take at first. I'm also afraid that he may begin to believe that none of this is going to actually happen to him. He is rather slight and I have this nagging feeling that he'll turn out to be a late bloomer. I mean, that's okay but, it might start to bother him a bit when he is 13 years old and his younger sister is a good foot taller and has about 50 pounds on him. Hopefully he WILL be 13 and this won't be happening six months from now. It is possible though.

What I need is a good book to hand out.

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