What 6th graders ask (warning, lengthy post) about puberty and

[put out]

about Growth and Development? In the old days, known as Sex Ed.

I just finished compiling two questions each from about sixty students. Wow. I get to answer them on Friday.

This is not a sex thread, but it sure shows me where these kids' heads are at. I cleaned up the language only a little.

The question I'm starting with is "Why does this happen?".

Continuing with discussion about:

Is it O.K. if boys are interested in girls, at this age
I heard about attitude changes when you in puberty, could you tell the girls if it is true
Do girls' voices crack also
Why take two showers
Should we take showers every day or 3 days or so
Does sweat change during puberty
What time should you start shaving your legs
Is acne bad, I still do not get why we get zits
Could acne make a few zits and then stop
Does acne come on your face, or other place too
When does acne start, stop, how long do you have it
What can we do to stop acne
Can you recommend a product
What is normal age for a kid to grow
What is the youngest age you can to through puberty, what is the oldest age, for boys, for girls
Where does hair grow during puberty,for boys, for girls
Do you have to have breasts to start your period
What is the average age to start your period, the earliest, the latest
What will happen if you start your period early or late
When you have a discharge, does this mean your period will come soon
When do boys have erections and why, when guys have an erection can other people tell, what does an erection look like
Could you have an erection while going to the bathroom
Do girls have wet dreams
How many wet dreams usually occur during puberty
Do people have wet dreams the rest of their life
Once you reach a certain age will your period stop
Can you run out of eggs
How many eggs does a woman have
How much sperm do guys have
Which teste hangs lower
Does the size of anatomy differ greatly from person to person
What is the cervix, and what does it do
Why does a penis have a knob at the end
Can you control your period like how you can prevent from peeing your pants
Does you period happen like when you go the bathroom, or when you walk down the hall
How long do periods last
How do you know what kind of cramps you will have, like if you will have bad or small cramps, why do you have cramps
Do you bleed a lot when you have your period
Does blood get on your pants and is it visible
If you're really skinny is there a chance you will start your period later
Why do the girls bleed
What is a tampon, how are they used
Does a tampon hurt you, how will you know when you can use a tampon
Can you swim in a tampon, can you swim in a pad
How do people have AIDS transferred
What is a condom used for, what do condoms do
What does the tube that is connected to belly do
How would a twin be made
How many babies can you have at a time
If you want to reproduce, do you have to be on your period when you intercourse
Can you have sex when you're pregnant
Could there possibly be another way of reproduction
Could boys be able to have babies
Why don't boys have periods
How does sexual intercourse occur, when does sex usually occur, how long does it last
How does the female get the sperm from the male while they are having sex
Does a sperm and egg have to come together to make a child
How are people not able to have sex
What happens to the sperms that don't go with the egg, what happens if sperm dies; what happens if an egg dies
If sperm is injected and a woman hasn't had period, will the sperm stay until she has her period
If you cannot see the sperm, then can you not see the egg



I have only an hour with boys, then girls. I truly wish there was much more time for discussion; as you can see, the questions are combined and scrambled and totally anonymous.

I laughed, but I take these kids seriously and respect them. Some look little and some look big, but their questions are good, and there are a hundred ways to misinform and misstep.

Comments and advice welcome. I want to do well by them.


Edit, if I haven't messed it up. This belongs in the Lounge. My bad.

[Dookus]

1. some pretty good questions!

I know one answer: Why does the penis have a knob on the end? So you don't punch yourself in the forehead jacking off.

[TahitiNut]

5. Oh? I thought that ws the volume control.

:silly:

[DrWeird]

6. It's actually like a plunger.

It suctions out the sperm of competitors.

Completely serious.

[TahitiNut]

8. It was easier to divorce her.

Completely serious.

[Dookus]

9. ah

the "sloppy-seconds" adaptation :P

[DrWeird]

11. Hey, it wasn't my idea.

It's either that, or the Northern Right Whale approach to sperm competition. That is, have ridiculously oversized testes (we're talking VW bugs) that turn the penis into, effectively, a sperm fire hose that flushes the competitor's sperm right out.

Although maybe that's something that can wait until 7th grade.

[put out]

12. Great. I get to discuss the difference between

circumcised and uncircumcised male genitalia. I can hardly wait. They will be pissed off at their parents, who will in turn be pissed off at me. Goody.

That lucky 7th grade science teacher, she'll get to talk all about marine mammalian mating habits. I suspect the conversation won't go there.

[St. Jarvitude]

2. thank god I found the book my parents got for my brother when I was 10

Or else I'd have been just as dazed and confused as these fools. :)

[TahitiNut]

3. "How does sexual intercourse occur, when does sex usually occur, how long?

"How does sexual intercourse occur, when does sex usually occur, how long does it last?"

If you find out, please let me know, too. Please?

[DrWeird]

4. Damn good questions.

Smart kids. They deserve to have straight, complete truthful answers.

Shame on the person who wouldn't answer them.

[TahitiNut]

7. "Can you swim in a tampon, can you swim in a pad?"

Only if you do the breast stroke? :silly:

I guess it depends on how deep they are. :dunce:

[Not_Giving_Up]

10. Kudos to you for braving this!

I remember being told that virgins couldn't use tampons (by my grandmother). I told her that wasn't right, my best friend was on swim team, and she used them, and she was a virgin. My grandmother then insisted that there was something about my best friend that I didn't know.

Here's something to make you laugh...

My cat had kittens last year. My son was ten when this exchange occurred...

Him: "Mommy, I know how Dora (the cat) got pregnant."
Me: "You do? How?"
Him: "Bear (boy cat) went uh-uh-uh (complete with pelvic thrusts), and Dora went "ah-ah-ah."

This spawned a discussion that I thought was at least a few years off. His friends had educated him on reproduction...but I had to straighten out a few things. The major one was the orifice of insertion (wrong hole kiddo!). He also thought that once a woman had done "it", she just routinely got pregnant every now and then, without further help from a guy. (It's been the joke that I was "fixed" after his sister was born...guess he thought I had to in order to stop the flow of babies!

[put out]

14. Thank you for straighten him out on this, and don't stop!

"Uh uh uh" and "Ah ah ah"...Never heard in love cats sound that mellow.

The swimming question I found first said "Can you swim"

I want to answer, "Yes, pretty well. I took lessons for a long time, but I'm not in great condition now. I'll practice this summer."

Yes, even 6th graders are a bit confused about the orifice involved. I had to emphasize that a man's urinary tract and reproductive tract were combined in a way that a woman's are not. They still are not getting it, some of them. I am reduced to saying things like

Men have two holes. This is how they work. Women have three holes. This is how they work.

Keep talking to your child. He will thank you in his future. I'm thanking you right now, in between snickers. Good old Dora and Bear.

[Not_Giving_Up]

18. He was under the impression that it was inserted in the back door

I explained that is not how you get pregnant...He told me i didn't know what I was talking about. I informed him that I had been pregnant twice, and I was certain about how I got that way...that's when I found out that he thought you only had to do it once to keep getting pregnant.

[SW FL Dem]

13. I wish my kid had you as a teacher in 6th grade

We have a great relationship and up until middle school he would ask me anything, now he tends to rely on his friends. Here, the only school discussions are abstinence based.

[Reverend_Smitty]

15. I remember that puberty discussion in school...

It was in 5th grade and I was going to school in Florida at the time (these were the days when the state had a Democrat as governor!) the two classes split up into girls and boys (I guess to alleviate any embarrassment) and we watched a video and the teacher answered any questions we had. She was this cool old British lady and she answered all of our questions honestly and straight forward. I wonder if this curriculum still exists in the state today?

[Not_Giving_Up]

17. You had a video??

I remember my school freaking out because a fifth grade girl started her period, so they HAD to show us the film. Not video, film...as in the projector that skipped and always jammed...This was in the 80's...and they showed us some bull from the 50's...not pads, the things with belts. We were terrified!

[Reverend_Smitty]

19. lol

those pads from the 50's look like medieval chastity belts. Yeah we had a movie, it was a massively corporate sponsored one. Corex, stride-x zit pads, teen spirit deodorant etc...we did get a grab bag of products to take home with us. This was only about 10 years ago, so I can't imagine them busting out one of those old projectors

[fortyfeetunder]

16. These questions seem to be tame yet honest

Thank you for taking the time to explain puberty with the students.

Let us know how the answer session turns out.

[put out]

20. Thank you, I will. I can't imagine how scared these children

must be. Such as, a girl thinking she could sit on a toilet at the right time and menstruation would happen right there all of a sudden, or would she be walking in the hall and it happen right there all of a sudden. Good grief. They asked things like "will I faint" "can I get sick from this" "do I have to tell my dad"...

And boys worried about just going around having random ejaculations anywhere and everywhere. And will they urinate when they are having a sexual encounter instead of ejaculate. And will their voice crack and just never come back down again, like if you cross your eyes they'll freeze that way.

Oh, yeah, one of the questions was "why DO people masturbate?". Well. I hope no one brings up homosexual sex, with all this reproduction talk. They might. And I'll answer and try to respect their families' views and community views and respect their emerging or established sexuality and tell them once again that

It takes an egg and a sperm to start an embryo. Birthing a baby has little to do with being a parent. There are all sorts of families, and some do well, and some don't. You can be a great parent and not have the egg or sperm come from you.

These kids can take what I say, what their parents say, what their community says, what their government says, and make up their own minds and think for themselves and make decisions for themselves and just make the most sound and healthy decisions they can at the time. They need some good information and some protected time to mature.

That's what I think.