Puberty...
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 11:49PM After returning home from vacation, life for us is back to full speed. I've made several attempts to sit and write, but haven't been successful in completing any thoughts. Tonight, a brief recap of two things on my mind.
First, I've been completely consumed this past week with making a digital photo book of our recent travels. The kids were great sports about all the photos I took while we were away, as I explained in great detail how I was going to transform them into a memory book, as opposed to my usual trick of just leaving them on my computer in a permanent photo coma. I researched my options for photo books and ultimately, I chose a company who promises a completely custom book that is easy to make at a good price. After choosing the size of the album, I needed to choose the cover and now I'm designing the pages. The first 20 pages are included in the price, with each additional page costing a little extra. I'm already on page 40 and am not yet halfway through our vacation. I'm sure that I'm on-course to make the world's largest, most expensive vacation photo book.
In between downloading photos, pasting, dragging and creating layouts, I managed to take the kids to the pediatrician for their back-to-school well checks today. Audra, going into high school, needed to have her annual sports physical completed while the boys were due for well checks/immunizations. Fortunately, everyone was up to date on immunizations, so they were all smiles with the news there would be no shots.
As we were leaving the office, the doctor handed Buck a sheet of paper saying, "You might want to read through this as it's some of what you can expect in the next few years." I glanced at the form and it said PUBERTY FOR BOYS across the top. He gave me a shy look and tucked it under his arm. We've already had a few chats about puberty and he knows it's right around the corner.
Later in the evening, after dinner, I asked Buck to bring me the sheet of paper so I could read it. He got this funny look across his face and said, "I threw it away." I pressed him a little and he said, "It scared me, so I threw it away."
Curious, Wade and I both started to ask why. "It talked a lot about hair and the places I'm going to be growing hair. That's information I didn't need and I don't want to know where the hair is going to be. It also talked about kissing girls and about things my body is going to start doing. Some of that stuff really scared me, so I threw it away."
Buck walked back and fetched this horrifying piece of paper out of the trash can, bringing it back and handing it to me. I glanced at it just long enough that it scared me, too. Wade declared it PG-19 and now we were all scared. He told Buck that although some of it was true, none of it should be scary and they'd talk about as it became appropriate. Honestly, I've never seen a more shocking portrayal of puberty.
I'm left wondering why my ultra-conservative pediatrician would hand out such a graphic paper to a ten year old boy who is now checking his entire body for sprouting hairs.
Reader Comments (2)
Tell Buck to call Connor. This is too much...
Let's just say that the whole "paper" touched on a few topics that were less than Biblical. Not to mention topics that are far beyond a sheltered 10 year old boy. I'm sure Connor is an expert on the puberty topic. Thanks for offering his assistance.