thread: 2006-08-16 : GenCon 06 observations 1-4
On 2006-08-18, Sydney Freedberg wrote:
As the father of a 2.5-year-old girl now wrestling with toilet training (and who came back from pre-pre-school talking about her "bagina"), I find myself consistently saying "secret part"—as in "well, Daddy pees standing up because boy secret parts are different from girl secret parts." Note that my toddler has had enough fairy tales read to her that she thinks of "secret" as "very cool thing you only show/tell special people," not as "shameful thing."
My wife thinks I'm loony, but somehow it strikes me as the most toddler-friendly way to cultivate appropriate respect for the seriousness of the thing. Viz. Corinthians 12:25. (I think verse 25's right...). Modesty can stem from shame and repression OR from respect and due honor.
And I think other fathers will agree with me when I say that once you've seen your wife struggle with breastfeeding, you never think "hey, boobies!" in quite the same way again. Because now you know what they're actually FOR.
