The Rookery

"It's useful…actually." these were the words of a fifth grader when talking about our puberty education talks.  Someone had erased that part of the day from the schedule and I took that as an opportunity for the class to talk about how challenging it can be to talk about puberty.  Everyone (including the teachers) feels some apprehension about talking (for an hour!) about a topic which in our culture is often taboo.  I asked the fifth graders to share their opinion about the previous year's discussion.  They were very positive.  "It was helpful to know about things."  "It's not so bad."  "It's useful…actually."

Cathy, Gabe, Simon and I strive to make the information we share as relevant as possible.  Sometimes we use stories from our own childhood to illustrate points.  We try to normalize the emotional and physical growth that lies ahead.  We use science to help students understand their bodies and the processes of change.

The students are bursting with questions.  Cathy and I fielded about thirty questions a day and still didn't get to them all.  If your child hasn't shared any of his or her questions yet, ask about some of the questions were that we answered…then ask if there were any that weren't answered yet.

This is a great time to continue the conversations about growing up with your child.  There is never "one" talk…but a collection of information sharing and gathering.  At one point, Cathy and I were talking about how adolescents try out new identities and might take bits and pieces of what they are doing and who they are friends with to construct who they are – kind of like a caddis fly larva creates its house (thank goodness for our students' life science background…there were lots of knowing nods.)  Understanding about puberty (and later relationships and sexuality) is like the caddis fly home.  It doesn't happen all at once but is an accumulation of conversations and information.  Hopefully those conversations have started at your house.  As awkward as these conversations can feel at first, they're useful…actually.