Monday, May 5, 2008

Movie Night and Sex Ed

It seems to be a movie themed weekend around town. The Evil Twin and I watched Sweeney Todd last night and even at about two hours long, it passed by like no time.

In this Tim Burton directed film, it is much like all of Burton's movies - dark, gritty, gloomy but with a wry sense of humor thrown in at unexpected times.

I can't really go into it too much, 'cause I don't want to give it away, but it's an interesting take on an age old dilemma (spurned party returns for revenge). Not something the kids'll need to see - it's fairly bloody and the ending is quite tragic.

Speaking of kids, I had bought a book for Buddy a few months ago: What's The Big Secret about sex and whatnot. It's written by the same guy who does the "Arthur" series and his wife, but it's not a little kid book. It's pretty straight forward, a bit too much info for my liking in some parts.

He is ten years old and I suppose I'd rather he get the right story from a book or from us than crazy, wrong info from friends. I'd like to think the kids at Catholic school don't know about any of this stuff, but I'm sure they're just as bad if not worse than any other kid. Hee.

I'm just really not ready for this. But, I have to think back and I do know that by the time I was his age, I knew the true scoop. Not because my parents were these amazingly open-minded individuals, but because they felt a love of books trumped any other love in life - nothing I ever read was censored. Ever.

One thing my dad and I did together, just the two of us, was visit the local library at least once every two weeks. I would check out as many books as my little arms could carry. And, I checked out books from all over the library, not just the kids' section.

I received quite an education reading all those books. It didn't turn me into some twisted monster (just helped develop my sick sense of humor a bit, I suppose), so I'm fairly sure that Buddy will do okay with this new information.

I gave him the book, told him to read it and to come to us if he had questions afterward. I hope there are no questions - ha ha - or at least none while the Evil Twin is at work. I told him that he would get to have "the talk" with Buddy and that I would take the driver's seat when it came time for Sissy to know stuff. I think that's fair.

17 comments:

  1. Certainly a tragic ending, but really how else could it have ended? :)

    Hopefully the book didn't dive straight into the explanation of a Rusty Trombone or a Cleveland Steamer. Those might be things you save up for the one on one talk, LOL

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  2. Ron - warn me, okay? I almost choked on my own tongue. Luckily, the book does not delve into the deviant side of life - LOL.

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  3. I got this book http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Going-Down-There-Questions/dp/0802775403/ref=pd_sim_b_img_3/002-5349203-0082449
    for number one son, who's now 12. It's been in his room for a few years, and frankly, I'm not sure if he's read it.

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  4. Ah yes... just another in the long list of reasons why I am so glad I have a dog instead of human children.

    No one has to explain sex to a dog.

    ;)

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  5. Hey! I got Buddy that book too, but thought it was more "puberty" oriented, so I'm hanging on to that one for a year or two.

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  6. My verdict on Sweeny Todd - Too much singing. lol I was kinda expecting more acting and so I was let down.

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  7. Ah - the Things are at that age as well....their Dad just had a little talk with Thing 1 about masturbation. Fun!

    They boys pretty much know what sex is all about, but on the "why the HELL is my penis dancing" stuff - it's all in Dad's court. If we'd had girls, then that would have been my ball game to coach, so to speak.

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  8. Ah... I'm probably going to have to look up that book, too. My eldest is 11 and has a lot of questions. I can tell he's hearing stuff at school and what he's hearing is really incorrect. But *cringeshiver* I'm so not ready to have that conversation.

    Oh, and I loved Sweeney Todd! I was really expecting to be disappointed, because I really couldn't see it as a movie. But it worked!

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  9. Mom had a book for Grasshopper too. They tried to show me the book when I got the appropriate age but I refused to look. Mom tried everything to have "the talk" with me, but I didn't want to know my mother knew about stuff like that and I'd run like the Dickens to get away from her every time. One time she finally trapped me in a moving car and tried to tell me in front of Grasshopper. With all the tears and screaming on my part, Grasshopper made Mom stop. Grasshopper has always had that power. Finally, before I left for college Mom sat me down and said, "I assume you've heard all about sex by now and I just want you to know to use birth control and not to use foam birth control because you're living proof it doesn't work." It was a Hallmark moment.

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  10. NCP, yes, you get off easy on this topic, but a dog will never move out on his own, either!


    AC - I knew about the singing beforehand, so it wasn't too unsettling to me.

    Tiff - Oh! I'm glad you can pawn it off on their dad too.

    Rebecca - the Marc Brown book is illustrated (think "Arthur" but with humans and some of them aren't dressed) and the only thing I found distressing was talk on masturbation (but it only goes over that pretty briefly).

    BB - My mom didn't even attempt "the talk". I think she figured I'd read enough and heard enough elsewhere. LOL.

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  11. I had to give my son a book and have the talk when he was 8 1/2. He had already heard some erroneous stuff at school. Mr. kenju was too embarrassed to do it, so I had to.

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  12. So you are saying watch Sweeny Todd then.

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  13. kenju - I remember you telling a story about your son and the book (and he asked about making an appointment to do that stuff...still cracks me up thinking about it).

    Wyld, rent Sweeney Todd but be warned it's a semi-musical. Turn the subtitles on too.

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  14. I have to tell Big Dog to stop aimlessly hunching the air when Girl Dog is in heat. That's about as much of a talk as the fur babies get.

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  15. Lol turn the subtitles on? Dunt cha understaand a Briteesh acksent wen you 'ear one? :-p

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  16. BB - I bet that's a sight!

    AC - depends on how thick the accent is, but we really had trouble with the volume on the movie. The spoken parts were very low and the singing parts were VERY LOUD! LOL. Then again, we might just be old and deaf.

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  17. My mother purchased some kit from Kotex "back in the day". Then she tried to 'twofer' the information by telling both my sister and I at the same time.

    I was 8, and already a "B" or "C" cup. I yelled "I don't want to know!" and ran from the room. My SISTER told me a year or two later.

    I just purchased my 7 year old her first deoderant last week. I am NOT ready for this!

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