Sex Education

I took my daughter to get a physical today. She is twelve.

There are new vaccinations available for her. Hepatitis A, which she got. Tetanus, now combined with pertussis (since we've had trouble with whooping cough outbreaks in our county), which she got. Meningitis, which she got. Cervical cancer, which we opted to postpone. We read the literature together and I let Tabitha decide which ones she wanted. She said in reference to cervical cancer, "Mom, it says you get this if you're sexually active. I'm not."

I told Tabitha the day might come that she was, and even if she only had one partner, she had no control over his sexual activity, so it would be good to be protected. She said, "Maybe when I'm older." I told her okay, but she needed to tell me if she was planning to be sexually active in the meantime (I was teasing her). She looked at me and said, "Mom. I weigh 65 pounds and I have no boobs. No one wants to have sex with me, and I want to have sex with no one."

I said, "If you have no boobs, why do you wear a bra." Tabitha answered, "Well, you're always telling me I should practice anything I want to be good at."

I love my daughter. I think she's hilarious. She ended up getting 3 shots. She just sat calmly and let them poke her. My boys, at that age, had to be restrained, and we had to drag Adam from the bathroom last year.

Amazing.

Oh, yes, DJ also got the hepatitis and meningitis vaccines (but not the cervical cancer one--he thinks he'll play the odds on getting that particular STD). When the nurse was finished poking him, he asked for a Popcicle, then laughed at me as I rolled my eyes at him. However, we didn't have to restrain him to administer the shots, which is good, since he's twice my size. Progress.