Growth and Development

I can remember one day when my kids were little and we were playing in the back and I was having a rough time coping with them. My neighbor two doors down was in her backyard as well. She has three kids and at the time the two oldest were teenagers. I looked at her exasperated and I will never forget what she said to me. As a parenting veteran she said what I was going through was easier than I thought and I shouldn't get too worked up about it. She told me, "Bigger kids, bigger problems."

I think about that often as my kids are getting older. When you decide to have kids (or at least when I did) I never really had a solid plan for getting them through the eighteen years they would be living with me. So far, I've managed to avoid the areas I'm not good at, uncomfortable about, or completely unprepared for. However, I do realize that avoidance is really not a productive parenting method.

So, last week I was confronted with my first real test. I got the letter home from school announcing that my son will be starting his human growth and development program at the beginning of May. Ugh!

I have just returned from the library with all sorts of books about puberty, the growing body, and (gulp) sex organs. Is it just me, or is everyone completely uncomfortable talking about this with their kids? (I suppose it's no less uncomfortable than to be on the kids' end of the discussion.)

One author writes about teaching a puberty class and in order to help minimize the laughter and snickering, she encourages the students to yell out the slang terms for sex organs which she lists on the blackboard. Is it a bad sign that there are slang terms on the list that I have never heard of?

So my plan is to brush up on my slang, and all other matters that pertain to human growth and development. Maybe that will help lessen the embarrassment for both parties as we embark upon the discussions that are ahead of us. Wish me luck!