Sunday, October 14

Growing Up

I don't know if there are many things much more frightening than the realization that your children are growing older. Today I get to be concerned about kids running in the street or eating too much candy or, even worse, something toxic. Then I am reminded about tomorrow. Not tomorrow, tomorrow, but you know, the tomorrows down the road. Dating, driving, committing to Christ, fashion, eating disorders, sports - all those major milestones and hurdles to encounter in the next decade or so are enough to cause a little parental panic attack.

This evening Trinity asked me this: Mom, how come boys have so much more than girls? Because boys are physically stronger than girls and they "usually get to drive" and they "get to fight in wars", she is seeing, for the first time maybe, that there is inequality, even in our corner of the world. Don't worry - this mama wouldn't let that one go unaddressed! As well as assuring her that girls are as intelligent and talented as the guys and that we get the greatest gift of having babies, I used this opportunity to share with her about feminine power - and the need to use our influence over guys for good! That got her giggling up a storm.

Then a little while later she asked me how she has daddy's germs (i.e. genes) inside of her. Do you understand what she is asking me??? I won't go into details about what I told her on this rated G site, but she's got a nice head start on her junior high health class.

It's scary being responsible for all this big stuff, but now that I've taken a deep breath and counted to ten, I can remember that there is a reason why our babies aren't born as teenagers - so we can do this growing up thing together.

11 comments:

Allison said...

How sweet and scary that must be. How about sending me a script of how you dealt with that so I can read it when it's my turn. Is that cheating?

Lori Ann said...

hee hee hee! It's only just begun!
Nathan has been the inquisitive one for a long time, it has opened many doors for conversation. I have been as honest as I can be with a boy, Ron gets to handle some of the tougher ones, since I am the only female in the house and I only had sisters.

Aimee Jo said...

Thanks for giving me a peek into what is to come for me!
I'll just send Anaiah to you when she asks me those tough questions, since you will have had so much practice by that point!

Kristi said...

wow! big stuff! Sounds like you jumped this hurdle without even stumbling (at least on the outside!)

Unknown said...

Good luck with that. Yikes!

KMiV said...

How great it is that our kids can ask us these questions. Hopefully, some of their friends, whose parents don't care, can also feel comfortable asking us those questions.

Cheryl said...

Kinley and Alex both know the details...They asked and Jeff told them. Kinley asks questions all the time...I sometimes say, "Can I answer that question in just a minute...I want to think about my answer." As long as I don't delay the answer very long...Kinley receives that reply well. And my answers are usually better after a minute of thought than off the cuff.nnfv

Cheryl said...

Oops. For some reason, when I am commenting on your blog, the word verification doesn't take. I type the letters that appear, but it comes back up again and makes me type new letters. For the above comment it took five tries. Anyway the cursor was in my comment when I was typing the letters..and I wasn't paying attention because Silas was needing me...so that's why there are random letters typed in my comment...again. Just so you know...it's not a secret code. And I apologize in advance for the next inevitable random letter "code" in my comments.

brenda said...

Wow, you kind of freaked me out a little bit, there. Good thing I have quite a while before I have to start dealing with the big stuff.

Glenn said...

I remember almost 40 years ago when we first realized that our kids were growing up faster than we wanted and faced the same questions - I don't think we traumatized you guys nearly as much as we were. Guess what we are teaching to a marriage class Sunday - yes, big people need to learn about that 3 letter word, also. (I'm not referring to God.)

Steve Maxwell said...

OK I know I am late to comment but this is just to good a post to let go. Thanks for glimpse into the future Kristi. I am excited to teach Jonah how to love God by respecting and caring for His most beautiful gift to man - woman. I pray that he encounters many young ladies brought up by people like you. God bless.