Next question please

One pretty Sunday morning, Sharkboy woke up early to find my women’s magazines strewn all over our bedroom which I left the night before when I got sleepy while browsing for house decorating ideas, a recently found obsession. When I realized that I have scattered my magazines which have unfriendly content for children, ‘twas late as I pulled myself from the bed I found Sharkboy standing in the bedside holding a magazine with a photo of a boy in the act of kissing a girl’s body.

• Sharkboy: Mommy, why is the boy kissing the girl’s ”pwet” (butt)?
  He points innocently to the photo of an article that provides pointers on how to enliven one’s married life.


• GM: (tongue-tied and looks at a half-sleep DB)


• DB: (stifling a yawn) Ayan kasi kinakalat ang mga magazines, sinabi ko na! (That’s what you get from scattering your reading materials)


• GM: (finally finding my voice) Hey better ask your Dad (DB looks back at me sternly)


• Sharkboy looks at DB and back at me, waiting patiently for an answer


• GB: (retreating) Well…its an act of love (duh to kiss a butt!) the boy, err, the husband is expressing his love for his wife and you will understand this more when you grow up okay.

My rating on this: I failed miserably upon losing my coolness on how to handle such situation. I hope to prepare myself well next time with a more credible response not some hoopla taken from the air. My son deserves to know not only the truth but the surrounding concepts and premises on why we got a photo of a guy kissing a girls butt.

Two months before this incident happened, my friend related to me how she would be very critical with the reading materials of her “tween” daughter. She would staple the pages together of her daughter’s magazine for quality control in an effort to delete articles that she deem would be inappropriate for her daughter’s age. We had a healthy discussion on this, the other argument was the necessity of exposing our children to the realities of life so they would learn to be critical and open at the same time. Now I am reminded that while espousing the “other school of thought”, as a parent you are expected to be alert and ever-ready to react to questions that need information-backed and responsible answers. I do not intend to underestimate my son’s intelligence, he won’t forgive me next time.

vivi, ama e ridi,