For my 12th birthday I got 2 books...I loved the "What's Happening to My Body Book for Girls" which I really liked the other I don't even remember the name of. What I liked about the one was that it was normal "book" size while the other was big and bulky. Also, it talked about girls development and boys it talked about all the different ways (including if I remember correctly the keeper and reuseable pads...) to care for yourself during that special time. It encouraged you to color in the various anatomical parts. (It is real hoot to flip through the book now because I don't actually remember coloring in the pictures but the anatomical male with the striped scrotum and the plaid penis is quite hilarious
...). I liked that although my mom told me if I had any questions we would talk about it that she didn't sit me down. Instead I read the books at my own interest/curiousity level in private. I really liked the lack of embarassment surrounding everything and although I wouldn't be a bit embarassed now, at 12 I would have felt like I wanted to die
Oh, and along with the books she got me like 5 different kinds of pads and 4 differernt types of tampons, different kinds of face wash, and different kinds of deodorant/antipersperant.
Could I tell a funny story real quick? When I was teaching it came the year that it was my turn to teach "Human Growth and Development" to our 6th-12th graders. I came up with the materials and called the local health department to see if they would send a nurse to do a morning long class. (Heh, heh I thought I was so smart to delegate this out.) So the day of the class arrives and about 25 boys crowd into my room and the nurse starts talking. She is probably in her 40s-50s. She starts off by talking about getting older and changing. She then makes a joke about having to dye her hair red due to all the grays but that they don't make dye for the other gray hair and grabs her crouch!!!
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Every one of the boys scoots back away from the front of the room with these horrified looks on their faces. That was probably the "Worst Moment in Sex Ed. Ever"...I'm sure you'll have better luck!
Happy Holidays,
Jenne