Sugar and Spice and Peeing sitting Down

I am 100% in favor of full-disclosure when it comes to my girls. When my oldest asked about the Tooth Fairy, I had to tell her. I don't offer up these things but if I am asked I have to tell the truth.

This is true of talk of sex, male and female genitalia, and now menstruation as well. A stray tampon in the kitchen, of all places, led to a talk about what a tampon is which led us to a brief discussion about what happens to boys and girls bodies as they get older. Needless to say, at the end of the conversation, not only did she not want to grow up, she did not want to be a girl anymore.

We talked about the different things or roles that boys and girls have. Girls get to have babies, pee sitting down, wear bras, and get monthly visits from aunt flow. I was trying to think of something terrible that boys do, I mentioned they usually work all day but I had a hard time coming up with anything else bad about being a boy.

One thing I mentioned is that Boys make better friends. Boys tend to tell each other what they are thinking while girls and even women sometimes keep feelings about each other inside. Once I liked this girl and one of my friends hooked up with her. It was not a big deal, I think it was 9th grade, but the friend kind of did it quietly behind my back because the girls liked him and he wanted to get with her without hurting my feelings. So when we spoke about it later, I explained that I was only mad about the way it was done and not the act itself.

I don't think girls have a propensity to talk things out with their friends. In my experience, girls just hold a grudge and talk about their friends to other friends. They don't seem to be able to be open about things like boys can.

The wif told the story about trying to be open about something with girlfriends and it backfired on her big time. Maybe part of it was the way she did it, I don't know, but I think the reason my high school friends remain close is our ability to talk about issues and address them up front rather than bury them or hold grudges.

Thankfully, my daughter had her own list of things that boys have to do which are bad. Her number one was the boy has to ask the girl to marry him. She definitely did not want to be the one to ask for marriage, "embarrassing", she said.

So we got her back on the girls bandwagon but I hope I can teach her to have friends like I think a boy would. She has made phone calls on several occasions already trying to clear the air with friends and she is only eight so I have high hopes for her.