Bette: I know that we have been giving Daniel his privacy most of his life. But I am going to make an extra effort not to go into his room until invited. He needs to know that his room is his room.

Tina: Yeah. Hard to believe he’s no longer a toddler.

Bette: Did you talk to Barbara and Joe about our plans for Daniel for this weekend?

Tina:  No, why?

Bette: Well, it occurred to me, at the first opportunity Daniel is going to talk to John David and probably share with him everything we talked about. I guess we should expect that.

Tina:  That would be the normal behavior for those in his age group. Do you have a problem with that?

Bette:  No. I only gave him the facts. Or the facts as I see them. The only problem I see is if Barbara and Joe have some religious views that contradict what I told Daniel. You know… that self-pleasure is not an acceptable practice.

Tina:  Oh yeah. Well, I think that will be their problem. I think medical science agrees with you. I also think that we have the right to raise our child with the values we believe will make him into a responsible healthy adult at some point. And if we do not hold the same values as some parents, well, frankly I do not think that is our problem. As long as our child, our actions and our values are directed at no one but ourselves, well I don’t see where we have a problem.

Bette: Maybe we need to include something about what others might believe or think and how that could cause problems for him. I want him to know what the difference between facts and opinions. Just because society has these archaic views of the role of sex and relationships and the roles of parents and men and women, does not mean we should not give Daniel the best information available when we believe it’s appropriate. But I think we need to inform Daniel that not everyone agrees with us. Some parents like my dear old Dad, thinks that its best to get all my sex education from whatever the school teaches. And I don’t think that the word menstruation was ever said by a teacher during all my school years. I didn’t know squat until I was in college except that I would get a monthly curse and be careful with boys because they can make you pregnant. If I had just had a little information, I think my life would have been easier. At least I would have understood what was going on.