The times...they are a-changing

One of the things that has come up often in conversation and has been marinating in my mind lately is how fast kids are growing up these days. When my class first started color, nay had a 12 year old client. She talked about oral sex like it was eating candy and I'm pretty sure she thought she was real cool talking about it with me. When I told her I did NOT think that was cool and that I hadn't done any of that until I had a boyfriend at the age of 17, she was shocked. She revealed (read: bragged) about how she had recently gotten kicked out of school for giving a classmate a blowjob on a school bus. I absolutely could not believe what I was hearing! I know, I know, this kind of shock coming from someone who got knocked up at the tender age of 17 while still in high school. The difference, however, is that I didn't lose my virginity UNTIL I was 17 with my first real boyfriend after we'd been dating about eight months.

When I was 12, my mom dropped the p-bomb. If by p-bomb, I mean she told me she was taking me to see a psychiatrist. She told me she was concerned that I was not a normal child. I spent the majority of my days reading, writing and watching scary movies. I hung out with my friends a lot, but I didn't really like them that much. I hadn't lived here in Arizona that long, and while I was still interested in doing "kid" things like swimming and riding bikes, most of the other girls were interested in having sex with their 18 year old boyfriends and drinking. While I did dabble with pot from time to time, sex and alcohol just didn't interest me. Not like it does now. With a C-cup bra size at 12 I got offers to date, but I didn't want to deal with the pressures of sex. So I stayed home and read. I much rather enjoyed delving into a good book, vicariously living through someone elses adventures in life. And often times writing my own stories. So I went to see the psychiatrist. I was a precocious pre-teen and in just two sessions told him that he and my mom were crazy if they thought I needed to be more like a "normal" kid. I told them both that I could really go out and get a boyfriend, start having sex and drink alcohol f they really wanted me to be "normal". What IS normal anyway?

What worries me the most though is that the genius is 10. He'll be 12 in two very short years. While I have an inkling that the princess is going to be more to worry about, the genius is closer to the woes and qualms of adolecsence. What's a mother to do.

On one hand, I want to keep them both kids for as long as I can. Though more knowledgeable than most kids where certain things are concerned, they are sheltered and I am strict. On the other hand, I know they have to grow up and learn the ways of the world on their own. It's just a lot harder than I ever imagined. I guess its true what they say, "You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life. The facts of life."