Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Last Kiss

I can honestly say that the last thing I expected to talk to my (soon to be 9 year old) son about tonight was French kissing. I will skip any tirades or jokes about surrendering for now. As we were entering into our nighttime, bedtime routine, the boys went to give their mother a kiss before going upstairs. While I finished clearing the table, I poked my head into the living room, only to hear Caz telling his little brother that, "you don't French kiss your mom." True enough. But now I know I have to find out what he actually knows about French kissing. Oy vay. So after the brushing of the teeth and the donning of the pajamas, it was time for a sit down (as Tony Soprano would say). I looked Caz in the eye and asked him what he knew about French kissing. If he could have crawled into a hole in the ground he would have. Admittedly, I may have joined in using my own hole in the ground. It wasn't like I was itching to have this conversation. Caz immediately put his head under the covers. He said through muffled covers, "I don't want to tell you." I asked him where he had heard the term. Actually, I first asked him who he heard it from. But then I told him he didn't have to name names. I just wanted to know if he heard it on the playground, or bus, or from an older student, etc. He said he heard it in second grade (last year) but being a K-2 system, I highly doubt it. I decided to relent a bit. I changed course and focused on the book we intended to read for the evening, "Sharks." I said, "Forget about French kissing, I am just going to look at this picture of sharks French kissing." I thought it would be funny and lighten the mood. For a response, I got, "Sharks can't do that, they don't have tongues." And so the ice was broken. "So you need tongues to French kiss?" - "Yeah." - "Because that is what happens, two people touch tongues?" - "Yeah" - "OK, you're right. That is what happens. Two people that like each other will do that. I know this is tough to to talk to your Dad about. Your Yaya would have had a conniption if I tried to talk about this with him while I was growing up. He would have. And I want you to be able to talk to me about everything and I want you to have your facts right. Other kids, your friends....they don't always have the right facts." - "Sometimes they are right" - "And they were in this case, but not always. It is important you have the right information. If you don't want to ask me directly, write it down. I will either tell you the right answer or tell you where to get it." - "Like the dictionary?" - "Could be, but the most important thing is to have the right answer" Anyone want to dispute that I earned a drink tonight?

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