The TALK

I think it went okay. We sat down on my bed after her shower and I just came out with it. I tried to explain it to her in ways that she would understand, and I think she got it. I made her respond to me by making her repeat answers to questions. My initial goal was to make sure that she's prepared for the onset of menses, because she's about to turn eleven and that's how old I was when I first experienced it. I don't want her to wake up tomorrow and be completely freaked out by something she wasn't told about beforehand. I also wanted her to be aware of some of the things that her friends were talking about when they were swearing and using the "f" word and other such inappropriate behavior.

I was pretty down-to-earth and matter-of-fact about it. I appreciate all your prayers, because I felt completely calm and unruffled about it. She cooperated, too, mainly because she really wanted to know what all those swear words actually meant. I think that the one that bothered her the most was "gay", because that's a common epithet among the youth around here. I didn't really want to have to talk about that, but I know that it was necessary because of the world we are living in today.

I'm glad that part of it's over. I don't expect it's finished, but at least we've laid the groundwork for future discussions. No, I don't feel smug at having done it perfectly right... I'm quite sure that there was probably something I could've done better. But I don't think it was a disaster.