the paquettes

Last year, around this time, I read a book with Rilyn to have “the talk“.  I decided it would be good to have this talk every year to remind Rilyn that she can talk to me about anything she hears at school or if she has any questions in general about the subject matter.  Thankfully, we had no incidents this past school year that I had to address, but I’m not naive enough to know that every year older, in today’s culture, is a dangerous step closer into Satan’s snare.  I knew this year’s talk would be deeper than last year simply because Rilyn is one year older (and wiser).  So we set off yesterday to have a mommy daughter date.  We went to the Smurf’s movie, went to the hair salon to get her a feather, and then I read her “the book”.  I put the book in my purse when we went to the mall and immediately when she saw it, she remembered from last year, and said, “Mom, can we read that book in private, not here at the mall?”  I didn’t want her to feel embarrassed, so we ended up reading it in the mall parking lot in my car!

And like I thought, Rilyn had a lot more questions this time around about the book.  I won’t go into details, but let’s just say, my 7 year old knows how a baby is made. This was not a comfortable conversation for her, and that made me feel all the more that this was the right thing to do.  I don’t want the area of sex and puberty to be taboo in our relationship.  Do I wish we didn’t have to address it until much later?  Sure.  But she goes to public school, and she lives in this broken world.  And unfortunately, everywhere you turn markets sexual images to little girls.  Was it uncomfortable for me?  Yep!  But James and I have talked about raising our children intentionally for Christ and this is just another way to do that.  And if I don’t feel stretched, then I’m pretty sure, it’s not intentional.

Some things that were said by Rilyn, “Ewww mom, this is so gross, why are you telling me this?”  “I don’t want hair under there!!!”  “When did you first kiss a boy?”  I kept reiterating to her why I was sharing this with her, “You will hear things at school, and I want you to know what we believe about them and what the Bible says about sex.  (To be a gift within marriage.)”

And yes, I will be reading this book again next summer to her. I will be reading the first book in the series to Ella soon!

There are 4 books in this series if you are interested.

The Story of Me  (ages 3-5)
Before I Was Born (God’s Design for Sex)  (ages 5-7)
What’s the Big Deal?: Why God Cares About Sex (God’s Design for Sex)  (ages 8-11)
Facing the Facts: The Truth About Sex and You (God’s Design for Sex)  (ages 11-14)

Feathers might be one of those trends that we look back and laugh some day…”Those were totally the ’10s!”