"And they did something that's not normal"
Tall Girl is telling me the latest gossip to hit Year 10. It is about a boy and a girl, she won't use names.
"I bet it was normal" I say
She looks a little disgusted. "They did it in her sisters bedroom, when her sister was only downstairs" Her voice is quite disapproving.
"Well they must have been quick then" I snigger
She mulls it all over. She is still surprisingly innocent at nearly 15. I am glad of that but also surprised, especially when I read some of the stuff her friends write on Facebook.
"We talked about it all day!" She carries on "It made for an interesting Maths lesson"
I looked at her and the penny dropped, that's what they were doing; the thing she thinks isn't normal. I wait for her to carry on.
"Everyone was shouting out, what do you get if you take 1 away from 70?"
I laugh, she laughs' she knows I've 'got it'.
"It is quite normal you know" I say after we stop laughing. Her brown eyes grow like saucers. "Though you wouldn't want it spread around school like that would you?" I say, thinking I may have come across as too liberal earlier and hoping she will always have the decency to be sensible about what she does with who and who she tells.
Funny isn't it, they have sex education lessons from age 9, Tall Girl still has them at near on 15, but some things they just don't teach you... And I try to remember how old I was when I let a boy put his hand up my skirt behind one of the hedges on the school field one lunchtime. I must have been around her age I guess. Thank goodness she wears trousers to school I muse.
"Seems like you had a much more interesting day than I had then" I giggle
"Yes" She says "Thank goodness Mrs. Clarke" her PHSE teacher (that's sex Ed in school speak) didn't bring in her touchy, feely box"
I look at her and then tell her another meaning for the word 'box'
"Ewwwwww"! she says, and we both burst out laughing again
It's bizarre what innocence people retain. At my wife's work a retiring member of staff was given a pearl necklace... when they made a joke about this in their thank you card genuinely only 50% of her colleagues got the joke and had to have it explained to them!
ReplyDeleteTall Girl's definition of normal sex is clearly rather limited! I assume it'll expand a bit in the years to come! You do wonder exactly what the sex ed lessons consist of, if she's still that confused after six years of them....
ReplyDeleteA touchy, feely box? The mind boggles....
Um, yes, well. An interesting day. At school and at home.
ReplyDeleteWell, she's in her teen years, and lots of things are, and will be new. Thankfully, she has you to talk to!
The meaning of pearl necklace would have been lost on me too, despite my 64 years on this planet. Clearly I don't move in the right circles!
ReplyDeleteWTF is a touchy feely box!? Its nice that you can still talk with your daughter that way. Lovely post.
ReplyDeleteYes I have to listen to my daughter telling me all about her friends current sex life at the dinner table... something I could frankly do without thank you!
ReplyDeleteIt is quite funny the way you are thinking one thing & she is meaning another. Let her keep the innocence a bit longer!
ReplyDeleteGlad you can chat like that.
Maggie X
Nuts in May
I think it's wonderful Tall Girl can talk so openly with you. I know I didn't know this much when I was 15, and I certainly wouldn't have been able to talk about it with my mother if I had!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Nick, can You explain please Steve?
ReplyDeleteDicky, the mind boggles! However Tall Girl is dyslexic and sometimes gets her words wrong, so hopefully it was a different sort of 'box'!
Sub, I looked it up on Wikipedia. I don't think I'll explain it here though, I'd have to be pretty explicit!
ReplyDeleteGosh Nick really?! I'll go and check it out for myself ...
ReplyDeleteI'm having a hot flush just thinking about that conversation! Well done for being so calm.
ReplyDeleteLiz, I'm like you! Our eldest is 10, so I'm curious/ freaked about the conversations we'll be having soon :)
ReplyDelete