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Daughter's reading a textbook case of too much information?
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Published: July 2, 2009
Jenna has been fascinated with the human body — and books about the body — since she was about 4, so her request didn't surprise us. What did surprise us was her obvious self-consciousness in reading the "naughty parts."
Shortly after the races started, I looked over and noticed that she was in the childbirth section with its "twenty seven eight-by-ten color glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back explaining what each one was."
Not a problem. She is generally familiar with how babies are born, though not the actual production process. I nudged my wife so she could see what Jenna was reading, and we both chuckled. As we've told our children, this is how God made things, so there's nothing wrong with it; though we have regularly emphasized the privacy aspect.
Apparently, this is all Jenna heard, because when she noticed us watching her, she blushed and quickly bestowed upon us one of the most pitiful excuses for an innocent smile I've ever seen. Grin glued firmly in place, she quickly closed the book but, I noticed, kept one finger marking her place. Then, in a remarkable attempt at blasé-ness for a 6-year-old, she developed a keen interest in the swimming, despite the fact that her sister wasn't racing at the moment.
Not wishing to embarrass her further, we returned to watching the races, periodically glancing at her out of the corners of our eyes. Sure enough, only a few moments passed before the book was opened again to the childbirth section. This time, however, the back cover of the book was held up in an obvious attempt to keep us from seeing what she was reading. Every so often, she'd glance at us, attempt another guiltless smile, and close the book, all the while keeping her place marked.
Eventually I tried to give her a break and reminded her that what she was reading was actually very beautiful and she didn't need to hide her reading. It didn't help much.
She did eventually move on to airway emergencies and other less intimate sections, but my wife and I had a lot of trouble keeping our laughter to ourselves. Why she was so self-conscious about what she was reading amused and intrigued us.
We've never treated the birth process as shameful. Perhaps she picked up the attitude from friends, but then why would that outweigh her parents' nonchalance on the subject? Perhaps some deeply ingrained Western weirdness over childbirth has seeped in despite our efforts to the contrary? Someday I'll ask her. But for now, she's switched to books about dinosaurs killing and eating each other.
Isn't that cute?
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