"The Talk"

Tonight, after gymnastics, I was making dinner. The Girl was folding laundry. She started asking me when I would let her read her book, The Care & Keeping of You. We bought it some time ago but I would not let her read past a certain point. I knew I would have to have The Talk with her and I didn't want her reading about it before we spoke...so, we read about keeping one's body clean, keeping one's hair clean, brushing one's teeth, washing one's face...and that was about all.

When she asked about reading the rest of the book, I guess I decided there was no time like the present, and I told her all about periods and such. She didn't seem too shocked or grossed out by any of it. We didn't talk about babies...only that the uterus prepares for a baby and if there isn't one, the blood comes out. In fact, she took the whole thing so well that I wondered if I'd missed something major! She just sat and listened and took it in stride. She asked very few questions and appeared satisfied with everything I said. Overall, the entire event was far less painful than I had anticipated.

I *did* point out to her that she probably has a few years before she has to worry about this stuff. She will be 10 soon, but I was a considerably late bloomer (14!!!) and she is quite thin and active with gymnastics.

I think the funniest part of the conversation was my explaining mood swings. She totally got that too. I told her "You know when you get really mad about nothing at all? How when something really silly makes you angry or makes you cry? You know how when that happens, you know it's completely silly but you can't help being mad/angry/sad? That is your hormones and they make you kinda crazy." Like I said, she TOTALLY got that. She said one day at school, she wanted to do something and her teacher said no. She got so angry that she cried. I assure you, The Girl has had mood swings since birth and I really don't want to know how bad it is going to get! She's a redhead...need I say more?!

The best part of the whole thing was that I told her (more than once) that if she ever has questions, please ask me (or Daddy - which threw her into a fit of nervous giggles) because I will always tell her what she *needs* to know - and I'll give her straight answers.

Wish us luck...it's gonna be a bumpy road!