Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The Dating Talk

Recently, Casey and I got the opportunity to sit down with two of our older girls and do the “dating talk.” Personally, I do not remember how mine went, or rather, I purposely forget it... I do not know Casey’s background either, but whatever the case, we ran with it. Both of these girls are in high school and have interest in boys –specific ones –so now it is time to talk about conduct, boundaries, God, relationships, etc…

We talked to each girl about how special they are, how boys think, public appearance, God’s role in relationships, the difference between boundaries and healthy boundaries, how if either boy ever did anything bad he would have to face two, rather large, fathers, and few other points of interest. Society, especially in this culture, tends to put females very low on the totem pole. Women are there more or less as objects. We constantly try to reinforce to our girls their value and what they should expect in life with relationships, however, when the opportunity to date arises, they make their own, distinguishable, paths.

They both were feeling fairly awkward, but were able to manage a good hearty chuckle when we told them that any boy who tried to do something inappropriate with them would need to realize there are two fathers at home (enough said, I know). We wanted to remind them how special they were, and how special they should always be treated. Overall, I think that the conversation went rather well.

There are so many conversations that we have embarked on down here, many in which I would not consider myself “well educated”. Many have been ones that I would never really want to engage in, however, when you are the parent, and no-one else is around to give advice, you just pray about it, and ask the Lord to give you the right words to say. We will just wait, pray, and see what comes next.

1 comment:

Michele said...

Sounds like you handled this "Orientation to Parenting" well. Seeking Gods counsel is a wise path to take. Fortunately there are lots of books with all sortsof topics these days to help us parents out! Hope you guys are well. Swine flu is sweeping thru Portland as you may have heard. Eeek! Trying to stay well!