Not My Father's Sex Eduaction

A recent segment of a news broadcast caused me to stop and think. The story concerned sex education and how to approach your teenager to make him/her aware of the responsibilities associated with sex. The analyst and the expert bantered back and forth citing those statistics championing their specific agenda. It occurred to me then that maybe my prior discussion with my teenage son about the birds and bees left some unanswered questions.
During our conversation he made clear his knowledge of the procedure utilized in the act. He knew where babies came from and why. He give his word that he would respect women and that he understood all parts of the word “no”. He grasped the importance of prevention of STD’s. I left it at that feeling that I had done my part and he was fully educated on the subject. It was easier than I thought it would be. A cakewalk.

But in listening to the news story, I was left with the impression that teenagers really didn’t understand the mechanics of using a protective device. Methods of explaining and demonstrating the use of condoms were discussed. I thought this to be rather redundant, since an explanation of responsibility would assume the knowledge of the use of protection. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, I raced off to the supermarket for a late night purchase of condoms and bananas. Why was the clerk looking at me like that?

I called my son the next day and told him that we needed to talk. When we got together I explained the purpose of the instruction and demonstrated the use of the condom on the banana. While I assumed he was somewhat embarrassed and possibly confused , he assured me he understood.

Monday I got a call from him. He and his girl friend broke up. Seems she didn’t like the banana. Perhaps sometimes we try to hard ?