My 13 yr old brought home a form from school for me to sign today.
It was sitting on top of an informational packet.
I just had to sign saying that i was aware that today they were beginning a 6 week course of sex education.
"Oh did you have sex ed today?"
"Yup. We talked about condoms."
Well, they did more than talk about them. The teacher passed a bunch of them around so that everyone could see them up close, touch them, etc.
She was giggling as she told me, and it was this sound that immediately brought me back to 6th grade when my class was beginning a unit on reproduction.....
My 6th grade teacher was a man. Mr. DiIonno was about the same age as my dad. He was a no-nonsense type guy....a little bit intimidating to everyone. He was also the first male teacher I'd ever had.
We all knew sex ed was starting that afternoon. We whispered about it in the lunchroom and Nicky Amato, the cutest boy in the class, snuck a picture ripped from one of his father's Playboy magazines to school that day and was showing it off on the playground.
Right after lunch break, Mr DiIonno stood at the front of the classroom and began the lesson. He started by telling us that some parts of our bodies are known by 'other' names besides the proper names.
He asked the question, "Does anyone know what their navel is?"
Everyone got very quiet.
Then there were pockets of giggling....
I was one of the kids giggling.
Of course I knew that my navel was my bellybutton.
But I wasn't about to say that word in front of the entire class.
Oh no, not me!
Mr DiIonno was getting angry.
You could see it in his eyes....
The more we giggled, the angrier he got.
Finally he said, "Enough. Someone tell me what your navel is."
I couldn't help it. I let out another giggle.
He glared at me.
"secretlife, since you think it's so funny, why don't you tell everyone what your navel is?"
i turned at least 10 shades of red.
i tried to imagine the word bellybutton coming out of my mouth...
nothing.
nada
It wouldn't come out.
The seconds clicked by like minutes.
All eyes in the classroom were on me.
And I was too embarrassed to say bellybutton!
"Ok, that's it. Come with me!", he roared.
He took me out into the hallway. I was mortified. I'd never been singled out in the classroom before that moment....
"When we return to that classroom, you're going to tell everyone in there what a navel is. You're going to do that, or you're going to stay after school every day this week. Is that clear?"
I shook my head yes.
But the tears were already welling up in my eyes.
We walked back inside and i took my place at my desk.
I had a great big lump in my throat.
It was so quiet in there that you could have heard a pin drop.
"secretlife,what is your navel", he asked again.
"your navel is your bellybutton", and two tears popped out of my eyes....
Nobody giggled.
And the moment I said it, Mr. DiIonno began again....
"If it's going to be THIS hard to say the word bellybutton, I can't imagine how any of you are going to get through this lesson on reproduction where you're going to have to say words like 'penis and vagina'......
I met him years later in High School....
He changed jobs and became one of the guidance counselors there.
Everytime I saw him, I wanted to scream the word 'bellybutton'....
I'm sure he remembered.
....."And look mom, we had to read THIS!"
I glanced down at the flipped open packet and followed her fingers along....
The condom works by keeping semen (the fluid that contains sperm) from entering the vagina. The condom is placed on the penis when it becomes erect.
I looked up at her.
"What's your navel?", I asked.
"That's my bellybutton", she replied.
"You'll do just fine", I assured her.
