Let’s talk about sex

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On Thursdays I pick up my stepdaughters from school. We walk along the main road and as we get nearer home and cross the road by the traffic lights, my heart sinks. I feel like a man facing a firing squad. Because, as we pass the front garden on the corner, the girls shout ‘Yay! It’s The Friendly Doggies!’

Why does my heart sink? Why are these four Spaniels of differing colours and ages called The Friendly Doggies? Why would I prefer to be facing a firing squad at that exact moment?

Well, the dogs rush to the fence and greet people as they pass, and they…

‘Why is that dog jumping on the other doggy’s back?’

‘It’s… erm… giving the other doggy a piggy back’ I’ve said in the past. One of my better moments of thinking on my feet. ‘Let’s move along now. Quickly. No looking back. Nothing to see here.’

Of course, dear reader, what the doggy is actually doing, is actually doing the other doggy. Doggy style.

I don’t call them The Friendly Doggies. In my head.

In my head, I call them The Fucking Doggies. The Quite Literally Fucking Right In Front Of Your Eyes Doggies.

The girls are 10 and 7 and ‘on the way home from school’ isn’t the correct time for a conversation about the Birds and the Bees. But when is the correct time?

Never. Probably. Because I’m a chicken of the highest order. Coo-coo ca cha!

I say this with some good reason as it’s probably not my place to have that conversation with them. Yet. Not until they’ve had it with their mum and dad, or a variation on a theme of the family set-up. This may sound like a cop-out, probably because it is a cop-out, but I’ll join in with the conversation about sex with their mummy, if needs be. Be the supportive voice saying how, while what we’ve described, sex, does SOUND quite disgusting, it’s a perfectly normal thing, and actually not disgusting at all. It’s great!

Actually don’t think about that. Not yet. Move along now.

And don’t think about us having sex. Ever. No we really should move along now and oooh, does anyone want ice cream? Sweets? Money?

Perhaps I shouldn’t ever be allowed near that conversation.

I remember my mother, quite perfunctorily, telling me about sex. I’m still scarred. After that moment we never spoke of it again. Even after the time I got sent home from school early after a lightning teacher’s strike and found her in flagrante delicto on the sofa with a neighbour. It was embarrassing seeing mum, doing THAT. More so because I had a school friend with me.

It’s never gonna be conversation I’m going to have with my stepdaughters alone, on the way back from school, without a grown-up to supervise. I’ll change the subject, move it along, bribe them with sweets, chocolates and fizzy pop simply just to get out of it. I get embarrassed enough when we’re all in the living room and nature programmes talk about animals mating or when they discuss breeding programmes in zoos. Or when Kermit and Miss Piggy get a bit intimate on The Muppets.

Maybe it’s because they’re my stepdaughters. Back to that post I wrote about being a stepdad, I’ll support and help their mum, and while I accept I might have to have that conversation with my own children at some point as I’m their parent, I’m not the first point of reference for this conversation with my stepdaughters.

Of course I’ll have to talk about it at some point, and I accept that referring to it as The Birds and The Bees isn’t exactly 21st century parenting. So, to help me along and prepare me for the horror, I decided to search the interwebs to help my thinking. Word of advice: never Google anything concerning sex while in public. In a café. The people behind me who could see my screen ran out quicker than they would’ve done if there’d be a fire alarm.

A friend has lent me a book for perusal, which might help explain sex and the mechanics of to a younger audience. It’s called Mummy Laid An Egg. So the book’s a bit old, 23 years old in fact, but sex is the same as it was 23 years ago. Right?

Apparently not. On the page about sex, THIS is how mummies and daddies ‘fit together’.

 

I’ve never done it on a skateboard, on a spacehopper, or with balloons tied to my feet but I’m ready to give it a go.

No. I think I should avoid this entire topic for the time being and stick to something easy.

Like religion.

Have you had That Conversation yet or are you, like me, living in denial and hope it will all go away, la la la I’m not LISTENING LA LA LA? Please let us know your experiences in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading. 

15 comments on Let’s talk about sex

  • Ellen

    That book is hilarious!!!! Haha my dad was (and still is) entirely uncomfortable talking about sex, when it used to come on telly we’d all go very redfaced and silly – ridiculous!! I’m not sure how I’m going to approach this topic as I am of the school of thought that the earlier the better but how that will work in practice I don’t know!

    Great post, think we can all relate to not knowing what to say!

    • adadcalledspen

      Thanks for taking the time to comment. I wonder if it’s a ‘dad thing’, this feeling uncomfortable talking about it? 😉

  • Helen

    Ah that made me laugh! Poor you and your mate catching your mother out! I now actually want to know who has ever done it on a space hopper – what a terrible standard to give kids to live up to?!
    Helen recently posted…I wish I could be happyMy Profile

    • adadcalledspen

      I think the worst thing abou stumbling in on my mum was that I could see I was going to get such grief at school the next day.
      Thanks for reading and for your comment. 🙂

  • MrsF

    Very funny… Amusing and horrifying in equal measure. Cannot believe you and your school friend walked in on your mother.
    Loving the chicken noise. Made me think of the terrible chicken impressions in ‘Arrested Development’??? (But then perhaps you’re not one of the 3 people on earth who would get that reference.)

    • adadcalledspen

      Thanks for your comment, and I can’t believe I did either. I’M STILL TRAUMATISED!

      And yes, it is one of the calls from one of the Bluth Family George if I remember rightly. 🙂

  • Ziggy Mondus

    A little girl says to her mother, “Mum, how did I get my name?”
    Mum thinks a moment then replies, “Well, these days people will often name their children after where they were when they first ‘thought of’ their baby.” Then she thinks some more and says, “I’m really curious. What makes you ask, Blackpool Tower?”

    I’m glad my parents never tried to explain it to me. I knew by the time I was 10, which was ‘late’ around my neck of the woods.

    Even so, when I was about 12 my English teacher sent me up to the stationary cupboard to fetch some exercise books.
    It was the first, and as it happened, my only, time of going. I walked in and it split into two aisles. Luckily, I had to go up the right aisle where I’d been instructed to go, but I was attracted by a slight rustling to my left and looked across.
    Not missing a beat I continued onward and got the aforementioned exercise books and set off back.
    Curiosity drawn I couldn’t help but look across to the other aisle again, walking out and locking the door again.
    My previous year’s English mistress had been sat on the cupboard worktop, legs akimbo. Between her legs was my ‘every year’ art master with his trousers round his ankles and, luckily, his a*se covered up with his, then, fashionable long-backed shirt.
    For some reason, I, and they, had not the slightest embarrassment. He just stood to attention, in both ways, I suppose, and waited until I went back out.

  • Janet T

    Haha great post! To persuade myself to have this difficult talk with kids I found it quite motivating to be driven by fear – fear that their FRIENDS will tell them – and that would be far worse!
    Janet T recently posted…Brittany is Far, Far AwayMy Profile

    • @adadcalledspen

      That’s a great point! Fear is a great motivator. Fear that someone else will tell them and they’ll misunderstand.
      I recently heard a story about a little boy who was told about it all at school, and is now frightened because he thinks has little fish swimming inside him.
      Thanks for reading and for commenting.

  • Stella Branch

    Very true and very funny. It does seem somewhat ridiculous that as sex is all around it’s still something we don’t want to actually discuss! And no, I don’t think it’s only a Dad thing…I’m such a prude and it took me avery long time to actually talk to my daughter about things. My son was a different matter. We had a book I bought about birds and bees which I put in the bookcase that he read at about 6 and he just took it all in.
    Stella Branch recently posted…Me, Education, and Taking Holidays in TermtimeMy Profile

  • Hayley - Downs Side Up

    We have this book, it’s amazing. And when X first read it with me she said ‘Well that isn’t true is it! Daddy didn’t cut his willy off to put it in there!’
    Hayley – Downs Side Up recently posted…How to Spoil a Special SwimmerMy Profile

  • Suzanne

    Hilarious! I bought the ‘Mummy Laid an Egg’ book and realised how ridiculous it was so didn’t show it to any of mine! Instead we bought ‘How I Was Made’ or some other book with an equally inspiring title. Definitely leave the sex education to the experts 😉

  • Sarah MumofThree World

    I so know where you’re coming from with this! My daughter is 10 and I blogged only this week about needing to have The Talk, but being scared. I just want to cover periods, boobs and growth spurts first. I’m still not ready to talk about sex. Although I do remember I learnt where babies come from in a lesson at school when I was 8. My mum was pregnant at the time and I went home and told her about all those sperm ‘and daddy’s only used 3!’.

  • Louise Fairweather

    Oh those pictures! I don’t think my parents ever told me about sex. As a science teacher p19 of year 7 science text book always opened first as it was of some giraffes doing it! #Loudnproud
    Louise Fairweather recently posted…Churros and Chocolate SauceMy Profile

  • Honest Mum

    Brilliant. I need to see an actual copy of this book for erm *cough research purposes (insert crying with laughter emoticon)!
    Honest Mum recently posted…Review of Little Green Home ( Green, Organic, Non Toxic Products for Baby & Child) & Win a £50 Gift CardMy Profile

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