The Birds and the Bees and STDs

I am a solo parent with a 13 y/o son.

With all the talk going on about the RH Bill, I find myself dealing with my own dilemma.

How exactly should I talk to my teenager about Sex? And everything else that comes with it- Safe Sex, STDs, and so much more.

I didn’t learn about Sex from my Mom. She’s my dearest friend but I never asked her about it. I grew up learning about it and my sexuality by myself, through friends, and experience. It was a tough journey, believe me.

I remember when Carlo, my son, was around 8. He asked me how babies are made. This was in the light that we have a new baby aboard, my daughter Alyssa. I was caught off guard and I told him the first thing that came in this idiotic mind of mine: Ask Teacher Con (his Science teacher) about it.

Stupid, right? I know. And here I pride myself for being a new-age Mother- liberated and open. Yeah, right. I am as stupid as stupid can be.

Carlo came back with an answer when he was in 6^th grade. He eagerly told me, “Ma, alam ko na panu ginagawa ang baby!”

I just looked at him, stunned. He went on and explained.  He learned about the Reproductive System. And yes, it was from his Science class.

Relieved as I was about this new found information, I know I had to do my responsibility of educating my son. He now knows the “scientific” part of Sex but how about the other important details.

As of this writing (that's almost 2 years!), I still haven’t sat down with my son and do a really long, serious talk about it.

We’ve watched the RH Bill debate together on TV.  He was kind of confused of my position- I am Pro RH Bill. I gave him bits of my opinion about the issue. That people have their own minds to decide which is best for them when it comes to family planning. I told him that responsible sex is the key to all this talk about sex, population, responsibility, and what have you.

And he just smiled a timid, confused smile.

And that got me all worried again. I have to talk to him about it at the earliest time that I gather all my courage.

I am no expert about this. Most especially when it is my kid that I am going to give the information to. I have to be very careful with every word I say. I have to be both direct and subtle about it.

I don’t want him getting even more confused with whatever I say about Sex. And I definitely don’t want him going around and putting into practice what he would learn from me.  (Not yet!)

The best plan I came up with- go out on a date with my dearest son and finally, talk.

I believe in my son. That he is intelligent enough to absorb all the information. I just have to make him feel that if there’s one person he can openly talk about this kind of stuff and everything else; well, that would be me.

Talking about Sex is just the 1^st step. Proper and loving guidance should come next.

It sure can be a real challenge but I know I can get by.  We, my son and I, can definitely get by.