Mom talked to us but also gave us the books What's Happening to My Body Book for Girls and What's Happening to My Body Book for Boys.

There was a coloring section for the various body parts.

She also put condoms in the shelf with school supplies. Not that I used them.

Mom did ask me what Water sports were in terms of sex. But then *her* mother asked her what oral sex was. So we've both been through the Omigod why is Mom asking me this thing.

The really embarrassing thing was when I was visitng Grandma E (dad's mom) and the satellite tv messed up and some porn channels were coming through. I was flipping the channels trying to escape the porn, with Grandma E sitting there and she says "turn it back, I always wanted to know what the fuss was about."

I think I left her the remote and left the room.

Hil, pancakes? How...delicious.

OMG! I forgot about "When Jenny When"!!!! They TOTALLY showed that to us in 5th grade! Hahahaha!

I have NEVER met anyone who didn't go to my high school who saw that! Awesome!

but I do remember this hilarious curriculum about drugs in health class in 7th grade, where they taught us all the "street" names for drugs: blow, smack, etc. So that we could better communicate with our future dealers?

Oh, holy shit, we did too! Like, if some skeezy dude offers me a pill (or powder, or square of celluloid) that I don't recognize, I'm just going to take it since I don't know the name he calls it?

(M, aghast: "Didn't you use a condom?" Brother: "What for? I don't have AIDS!")

I remember my mom, horrified, telling me she had to get the family cell phone out of my brother's car, and that [dramatic pause] she found condoms!

Me: Were they USED?
Her: Ew, no! But -- condoms! I can't handle this!
Me: Would you rather have to handle him having sex and NOT using condoms? Because you clearly have proof that he's having sex or planning to or just really really wants to be ready if a woman falls out of the sky. So...either he does it safely, which leads to no diseases and NO GRANDBABIES, or he does it unsafely, which could lead to all manner of things you won't want to handle. You decide.
Her: So...he's using condoms. What a smart boy!

I got a Talk from my mother just before I started high school that embarrassed her and told me nothing, then I found the home medical book, and the next time the subject of sex passed between us was when I was a junior in college and she found my birth control pills, and it was way too late for anything regarding mother/daughter bonding.

Oh, and at some point she said in passing, "I was glad someone knew what was going on during our honeymoon," but my sister and I were too shocked to discuss anything further. Lord, I never even *thought* of asking Mother anything about sex.

Hil, pancakes? How...delicious.

The video was about some girls having a sleepover party, and one of them got her first period in the middle of the night. Then in the morning, the mother of the girl hosting the party explained to everyone what menstruation was, and since the conversation started while she was making breakfast, the pancake batter in the pan seemed like the convenient way to make a diagram.

My aunt Sharon told me about sex when I was 8 or 9, and that it was to make babies. And I looked at her astonished and said, "so you had sex TWICE??" When she said she'd had it more often than that, I was boggled as to why.

I love little kids' reactions to learning about teh sex. They're always "GROSS! WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THAT?" What a change hormones make!

It really does seem embarrassing and undignified, pre-puberty. I remember looking at adults, thinking, "They've had SEX?" and being alternately embarrassed for them, and amused.

It really does seem embarrassing and undignified

It's *totally* undignified!

Just...the fun is worth the indignity.

There was a "hygiene" talk at my high school, for the girls only, which consisted of equal parts "you think no one know you're sneaking off to your aunties to get busy with your boyfriends? Everybody knows. Don't do that" and "don't be thinking you can get away with not showering in the winter". It was infinitely weird and not at all informative. I think there was only one the four years I was there, and there were always a couple of pregnant girls in class, so I don't know what the idea was.