The Age of Innocence

Innocence is a precious gift because once it’s gone, it’s gone. 

I try to be mindful about exposing my kids to mature content and themes.  Believing there is a time and place for everything, even the most sensitive topics deserve honest and age-appropriate discussion because kids are curious and curiosity is natural.  Since I can’t be everywhere all the time, my only hope is to establish open and honest communication with my kids. 

My eldest is in an after school program with kids up to 12 years old and since some of these kids have older siblings, the adult intel inevitably trickles down.  In spite of that, at least as of today, my eldest is still a kid who secretly likes watching “Wonder Pets” in between episodes of “Big Time Rush”.  Last week he came to me in his most dramatic and serious tone, “Josh keeps saying the ‘S’ words”.  My first thought was, “There’s more than one ‘S’ word?  I must know what it is so I can start using it on my blog!”  So I asked the obvious question, what were these ‘S’ words?  With a heavy sigh, he lowered his voice to a discreet whisper and said, “Stupid and shut-up.”  Ah yes, this is serious, and damn, I already use those words.  I loved how righteous he was, especially since only about 5 seconds before he spouted of some smart mouth comment with utter irreverence.  God bless my innocent boy.  He thinks sex is when two people kiss a lot.  He also seems satisfied with the vague explanation I gave him about how babies were made when he was 4.  While he has the desire to watch all the cool tween programming and wear hipster clothing, he still loves being a kid and doesn’t seem to be in any big hurry to figure it all out too soon.

And then there’s precocious Little BooBoo who knows all the lyrics to Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire” and sings them with raw emotion.  Oh, and he really likes boobies.  Even with my eldest’s fine example of innocence, I have a distinct feeling he will grow up with ridiculous street smarts since he already seems oddly hip to my game.  Even when I was trying my darndest to get him excited about Santa last Christmas, he just kept saying, “Na ah Mommy” and shaking his head no.  Already rolling raisins in his sleeve and battling a very real fruit snack addiction, he may just be the one who ends up schooling his older brother on how babies are really made and the ‘S’ word as he knows it.