Did anyone else catch Oprah the other day? The episode about young teens and oral sex and the flippant attitud they are developing about it. Seems that its not really seen as sex much anymore, so not a "big deal". WHAT?!!?!!! I knew it was becoming more prevalant but that episode really shocked me. So Wednesday, one of my students comes in. She's a wonderful girl (daughter of my boss) and comes into my classroom often just to chat about school, friends, books, whatever...so she comes in and shuts the door behind her. Sits down but doesn't really look at me. She then starts asking me about that show and if oral sex really is sex. She has a boyfriend (her first) who was trying to pressure her into it. Woah. I was SO not ready for this talk! My boss and I have spoken about the whole sex thing before after an incident last spring. She basically gave me the go ahead to answer any questions I felt comfortable answering, as most of the parents won't speak of it with their children (Korean culture, I was told). But I never expected it to come from HER daughter. Anyway, I told her daughter that I didn't really want to put my beliefs on her but that in my opinion, it is more intimate than sex. We had a nice little discussion about it and I hope I at least made her think about things. I tried to speak of the consequences but pregnancy is the one that seems to be the biggest deal, hence the reason so many teens seem to turning to it. But with the pregnant student we had last summer, I think M. has a good idea of what pregnancy can do. I can only hope she makes good decisions in the future.

It felt good to be able to have such a discussion. And I am glad that A) she felt comfortable enough to come speak with me about it and B) that Oprah had an episode about it that would serve as a springboard for the discussion.

Kids just aren't kids anymore. They grow up so quickly. It makes me sad. In many ways, I had to grow up long before I should have had to, and I guess that is why I have such a hard time seeing kids grow up so quickly. But even my reality of living the life of a 12-year old (not THAT many years ago) is SO far gone from the life of a 12-year old today.

So that's my thoughts for today. Have a great Friday.


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