Kelly Meets Reproduction

I just want to say that I am proud of myself for not bursting into laughter during the course of the conversation I am about to relate. I saved that for when I shared it with Tom.

Kelly approached me one night as she was doing her science homework. The following is the approximate conversation.

Kelly-"We're talking about reproduction in science and I'm just not comfortable with that. "
Jen-"What kind of reproduction? Human, plant, animal...?"
K-"Plant, and I'm just not comfortable talking about it. I don't think I should be learning about it."
J-"Kelly, There's nothing wrong with learning about plant reproduction. Every living thing has to reproduce or it will die out. I can't write a note getting you out of this because it's perfectly fine to learn about it. "
K-"I just don't think Heavenly Father wants me to learn this. "

I think my mouth flinched here. I desperately wanted to laugh. This is the child who 2 years ago asked me what genital herpes is.

J-"Heavenly Father created the world. He made it the way it is and I think he wants you to learn all about it. "
K-"But they use the word for the male thing. "

Here I was very confused. Plants don't have a male "thing", at least they didn't when I was in school, but I ignored all that.

J-"I understand that it's a little uncomfortable for you, but you need to learn it. "

She walked back to the kitchen and sat down. A few minutes later she tried one last shot.

K-"There are PICTURES in the book! "

Plant porn? This I had to see. Click on the attached picture to enlarge it.






I will say that they have updated the plant life cycle chart and relabeled a seed as an egg and pollen as sperm. A bit unusual, perhaps, and I don't think pollen really looks like a tadpole, but maybe scientists have learned a few things since I last took biology. In the end I reassured her and again stated that she needed to do the homework. And that was the end of that, except for the good laugh Tom and I had over the whole thing.

Abby was just as quesy about talking these kinds of things. Well, not about plants, but human reproduction. Now she's taking a Gender Issues class and learning about homosexuality and all kinds of things. The teacher started the first class with a disclaimer. She told them the kinds of things they'd be openly discussing and told them if they weren't comfortable with it then they should take another class. So, there's hope for Kelly.