Grandma and grandpa spent a month with us this summer. Their TV viewing habits were slightly altered for the month on a diet of Dora the Explorer, Mythbusters, Clone Wars and animal shows on Discovery. We found that grandma doesn’t really enjoy watching ‘gators rend the flesh of assorted prey. She covers her eyes.
Our eight year old son let her know when the gory parts were over, "Grandma, don’t you want to see them mate?"
My wife decided to take advantage of his newfound knowledge a few days later and translate it to human biology. Yes, she was about to have the first sex talk with him.
Neither of us recall any conversations with our parents about any aspect of sex. We’re not sure if they were embarrassed or figured we’d learn all we needed in school. We think it might make the teenage years a little easier for all of us if we keep it from becoming a taboo topic.
She began by asking him what he knew about mating. She explained the biology of the egg and sperm and the growth process that creates offspring.
Then the big question. "Did you know humans mate?" Eyes wide open "They do???"
"How does the sperm get to the egg?" She paused for a second, took a deep breath, and pressed on to explain the process.
He processed her answers for a bit and asked the obvious follow-on question. "Did you and Dad mate?"
"Yes, is that weird?"
"Yes" and he opened his book and started reading again.
Another parental milestone.
