Posted by:
msmom
(
)
Date: November 08, 2010 04:59PM
Greetings first parish report followers.
Have I mentioned recently how much I adore 8th graders? (And teens in general.)
On Sunday, my co-teacher, David, and I were meeting with the 8th graders in the reproductive health course, “Our Whole Lives.” (OWL) 5 young men and 6 young ladies. And who is the goofiest and most awkward? The young ladies.
We were discussing concerns around puberty in gender alike groups. Each group prepared questions they were curious about regarding the other gender’s journey through puberty. One of the girls posed the question, “What happens with your penis during puberty?” The boys read the questions aloud and can choose to answer or defer to the instructor. (The girls do the same with questions from the guys.)
The gentlemen were a little uncomfortable so they asked their most articulate spokesperson if he could answer the question for all of them. “Certainly,” said articulate Mike kindly, “What exactly would you like to know about my penis? Can you clarify your question?”
“Well,” stammered a girl, “We hear it can be embarrassing.”
One of Mike’s male buddies called out, “remember to use a good opening paragraph with a hook line and then demonstrate your thesis with facts!” Apparently they have been prepping for their state sponsored essay exam.
“That is very true,” said Mike. “There are ejaculations when you don’t want them and can you imagine how embarrassing it is to have an erection and suddenly be called upon to go to the front of the class and demonstrate something on the blackboard?” The other fellows nodded and began to laugh about someone this had happened to recently. One of them asked the others, “Oh yeah, I heard about that, who was it?” Before I could intervene another one said, “We are supposed to keep stuff confidential here, I’m not gonna say.”
The next question from the female side was, “How come guys always look at boobs?” Inspired by Mike another guy spoke up, “Because breasts are so beautiful we can’t take our eyes off them.” Another gentleman said, “Seriously, girls are so hot we love to look at you!”
The tone was so admiring and flattering in a completely polite way that I think our young ladies were truly encouraged that there is actually a lot of hope for the males of their species.
This lead to a discussion of whether it would be easier not to admire lovely breasts if there was no cleavage displayed and the guys said they would try to look regardless and truly appreciated the beauty of the cleavage. Someone said, “This is starting to sound like a Saturday Night Live skit.” So we decided that at our year end celebration with parents we would create one giant SNL skit of what it’s like to study this topic.
While I was with the 8th graders, youngest son made a return to church after several years of infrequent attendance. The young people in grades K through 12 are creating an immense Christmas pageant. (Except for the OWL students with me and David – they have to spend their Sundays with us instead.) There are teams for acting, music, scenery, directing – you name it. Youngest son (an elementary education major and some time camera operator and producer of documentaries) and a man who teaches media at a local high school are working with some of the students to create a documentary about the pageant.
After not seeing him for so long, those who knew youngest welcomed him warmly. Those just meeting him thanked him for joining this project. I doubt very much that he will continue his church attendance beyond the time for which he volunteered. And no one will care one way or the other.