Getting the Naked Truth
Profunksticated’s Memorial Day weekend was a’ight. The highlight was finally assembling the hand-me-down bunk bed set for my younger son, who is eight. My brother’s two sons, my nephews, had used it.
Younger son was thrilled. So was I. With the help of my 19-year-old son and a 21-year-old cousin, the job was finally over.
Speaking of my younger son, I noticed on Saturday he was on the computer and clicked out of the window he was viewing when I came up behind him. He clicked a little too fast for old Pro, whose spider senses started tingling.
“What were you looking at?”
“Nothing.”
“I saw you looking at something.”
“It was nothing.”
“Show me what you were looking at.”
(Stammering, fidgeting and otherwise continuing to stall) “I’m in really big trouble.”
“I’m gonna ask you one more time to show me what you were looking at.”
Finally, he Googles the words “Naked women,” clicks on the first link and up pops a sexuality explicit video, complete with naked women doing things with naked men.
“How did you think to Google naked women?”
“I just thought of it.”
“When would you normally look at this stuff?”
“When no one’s around.”
There you have it. My eight-year-old son likes looking at porn. I’ll be honest. It was all I could do not to bust out laughing, but I had to maintain that stern Dad demeanor. I told him never to look at such sites again, they were inappropriate for boys his age to look at and that Dad has ways of finding which sites he was on.
Filled now with the Fear of Dad, the younger son promised not to view porn. Nonetheless, I’m now gonna have to figure out a way to block that stuff from his curious little eyes.
I told The Spouse, wasn’t angry and surmised that his Googling “naked women” was a logical extension of his watching the Naked Brothers Band on Nickelodeon. I tend to believe he got the idea where most kids get their initial sex education — on the schoolyard. Whatever.
I could understand it if he were 12 or 13. I was 13 when I discovered my dad’s Playboy magazine stash. But eight? I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised.
These kids today really do start early, don’t they?
Peace.
Oh my! I better start watching my kid closer. One of his classmates told him something that
disturbed me. He told him to get me to play soccer with him and then kick the balls so that it hits me in the boobs. I’m like WTH? SMH.. What are we going to do with these kids?
Hey, 23, I had a feeling you would relate to this post. I say we tell our kids in no uncertain terms that certain behaviors are unacceptable. They’re kids, so they’re gonna do dumb stuff. It’s up to us to tell them what time it is. And the time is not for foolishness.
Comment by S23 — May 27, 2008 @ 10:24 pm
You’re right, they learn these things from the so called ‘kid’ shows they watch. You handled it well. I would have lost it and he would have lost his head. LOL! Definitely look into some parental blocks on the computer and on the TV. At the same time, it might be a good time to talk about the err, birds and the bees. We can’t shelter them forever. Good luck!
Hey, ‘Drops, welcome back. Thanks for your compliment on handling the situation. At some point, I will talk to him. One other thing I notice him doing is using the word “gay” a lot. I ask, what does gay mean. He says stupid. We had to tell him to not use that word. Yeah, I got a lot of ” ’splainin’ ” to do.
Comment by Heartdrops — May 28, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
I’m just happy you didn’t catch him doing what he saw on the computer with a girl.
Hostess, glad taseeyaback! The above scenario would have had me DUNN! I’m not worried for now he doesn’t have any close female friends - yet.
Comment by Hostess — May 28, 2008 @ 4:15 pm
This was fun-knee!!! Well, you handled it well, but he’s obviously not too young for the talk. You almost have to begin from the cradle. One of my friends has a son who began watching internet porn around the same age, and it will cause some problems. She talks openly with her son about sex, but his curiosity may have already led him into some premature sexual behavior. Better to talk now than wish you had later.
Yup, A, I’m gonna have to talk to the little guy. The Spouse and I already warned our older son that if he knocks up a girl, we’re filing for custody of the kid and HE’s gonna raise him/her.
Comment by A — May 29, 2008 @ 11:22 am
i agree, he definitely needs a “talk” with Dad AND Mom. though he should be told in no uncertain terms that porn is a no-no, you don’t want him to feel afraid to come to you. i’m sure he’s just curious and needs somewhere safe in you to pour out his questions and concerns, instead of just feeling like it’s taboo for no reason at all.
i wish you the best. parenting is scary!!! lol. i’m not a parent yet, but from what i observe, there’s way too much on the plates of mamas and papas these days
my prayers are with you - for real.
Dragonfly, I welcome your prayers. Yes, that parenting thing is scary; especially when one is not prepared for it, as I wasn’t prepared. But it happens and you deal with it. We will have that talk. My wife thinks like you in that she wants her children to come to us. Thanks.
Comment by dragonflysoul — June 4, 2008 @ 12:50 pm