Talking About the Birds and the Bees

on March 4, 2010 at 1:00 PM

sex education When my mom sat me down to discuss the birds and the bees, it was possibly one of the most awkward conversations ever.

It was provoked by needing her signature of approval for taking the sex education class in high school. She sits me down and, in probably the quickest and most formal way possible, explains sex. Male. Penis. Female. Vagina. Must be married. Done.

Bless her little naive heart, she has always been the type of person that, if you don't talk about it, it doesn't happen. Or so she'd like to think. So it's not surprising that she took this route. Was it the best? Probably not. It made it more taboo (and let's face it, that adds fuel to the fire for a teenager), and I was a bit more promiscuous then my friends with sex. I didn't do the deed with multiple guys, but I'm sure my steady boyfriend, whom I had those last two years of high school, definitely received high-fives in the boys' locker room.

So, I'm kinda loving this single dad's take on teaching his son about sex. Using a Playboy magazine and an inflatable sex doll, Tom Henderson not only teaches his son about sex but also teaches about the objectification of women. Read the full post on Parent Dish and tell me what you think.

How did your parents teach you about sex, or, if you have older kids, how did you teach yours?

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Filed Under: sex & dating, teens

Comments (4)

SophieLee

on Mar 4, 2010 at 7:54 PM

I think, "Way to go Dad" on that one... That was great, an open and honest way to talk things through. How my parents went about the sex talk, they let the school do that. More or less I got it all figured out. Is that to say it could have been done better, yes, do i care, no not really. LOL

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Simply_Janeen

on Mar 5, 2010 at 5:19 AM

Uh, mine didn't. I learned in school. I was in Catholic school so it was In God's Image, Male and Female, a video series all about sex and how it fits within the Catholic beliefs. In other words, male and female, you wait until marriage, and you do NOT masturbate! By the time my parents had brought up sex, it was more than a year later and I was like, "Uh guys, you're too late." Considering I got my period at 11 just before the series at schoo, they were WAY late.

I SO plan to be more on the ball with DD and with this little one because it's important to talk about and it's important to be open with your kids (appropriately open, of course!) so that they can be comfortable enough to be open with you.

pragmaticmom.co

on Mar 6, 2010 at 5:46 PM

I do think having "props" is helpful but I am finding a great sex ed book to be a great foundation for the Birds and Bees Talk when I had one with my oldest. I blog on this experience and share a bunch of great mom recommended books at http://pragmaticmom.com

See gray navigation bar with entry: Birds and Bees Talk

Pragmatic Mom