The S-E-X talk with my baby

It finally was at a point I couldn't avoid it any longer. Patrick will be 13 in November. He's going into 7th grade. I'm sure I'm actually late on talking to him but that's my baby! He isn't ready for the sex talk. He should still be climbing trees and playing with race cars and thinking girls are icky and gross.

Yeah, not so much.

I broached the subject gently to see how he would respond and he was so mature about it I could have cried. I anticipated some giggles and a red, embarrassed face but that isn't really what happened. At one point he smiled at me and said, "Well...this is awkward" but that was it.

We started with puberty and changes to your body. Boys vs. girls. We talked about boys viewing sex as more visual while girls view it more mentally and why this is very important as he approaches a healthy, ADULT sexual relationship.

And we talked about abstinence and protection. I know some will disagree with that but I thought long and hard on my stance with my boys and I decided to tell him the following:

God designed sex as a gift for 2 married people. It is a beautiful thing and there is nothing dirty or ugly about it until people take it and use it not as God intended and it becomes something He didn't plan.

That God and his parents want him to wait until he finds the woman he wants to spend his life with to make the decision to give his gift to her and only her...BUT that might not be the choice he makes. While that would disappoint both God and his parents that will be a choice he has to make one day and if he does choose to get involved in a sexual relationship before he is married that he needs to make sure he is protected from not only an unwanted pregnancy but also a whole host of diseases out there.

We talked about how hard a baby is...he sees that daily with Colin...and how that would change his entire life and any plans he has for the future. We talked about having to be on medications for the rest of your life or possibly losing your life because you have an STD due to unprotected sex.

And we talked about wanting to be able to come to your wife one day and tell her that you made the choice to wait for her. About respecting the person you are in a relationship with.

And we wrapped it up about talking a tiny bit about sexual violence and being in control of those raging hormones. About locker room talk and the desire boys sometimes have to brag and make things up that aren't true and how that can damage a girl more than they know.

All in all I think it was a good talk but I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that my baby is at a point I needed to have a talk with him.

Patrick did tell me he's never even kissed a girl but that will all change soon I'm sure.

Oh to go back to the days of climbing trees and playing with race cars. :o)