I'm not ready for this

Monday was a weird and bad day. I woke up 20 minutes late, which always starts the day off not so swell. Then before I get up the stairs to my classroom, I am bombarded with bad news and questions from my students about this play we are performing on Sunday. Then there were multiple other things that tied my mood up. As I walked out of school to get my kids, I prayed, "please Lord, let me have some fun with my children after this day- I could use some joy." As I am talking with Izzy about her day she says this- "Mommy, I know that sometimes girls kiss girls and boys kiss boys and that it's ok!" My mouth drops and I am speechless as to what I should say. I didn't think at 5 years old I was going to have these conversations. After finding out she learned this from a friend in her preschool class, I kind of let it go. I wanted to get Brenton's view on the type of conversation we should have about this. (Basically, I chickened out!)

THEN, not more than 5 minutes later, Jacob (6.5 years old) says to me- "Mom, (friends name) says her friends get their periods (chuckle chuckle)." I turned my head to my friend I was talking to, and asked her if she just heard what I heard? Again, my mouth hit the floor- I didn't really acknowledge his comment, I just wanted it to go away. I thought if I ignored it, he wouldn't bring it up again, I didn't want to make it a big deal. I was dumbfounded that he would even know what a period is. I thought about this for a while, I figured he doesn't really know what a period is, and if I tried to explain it, he might freak out a little. I assumed he chuckled because the people that told him did, so he figured it was something funny. I am sticking with that thought until another time.

THEN, Izzy says to me this morning, "Mom, what is kidnapped mean?" I told her it was when bad people take children that are not there's away from their family and friends. She follows with, "What do they do with them?" I tell her they usually hurt the children and sometimes they die. She follows with, "So they take and kill them like they do to cows?" (I give a long pause) I respond with, Yep, you are right. However, I did get to extend the conversation into saying, if any stranger tries to get you to go with them, you say no, run away screaming and find help! She tells me, "Yea mom, I already knew that." (Phew, thank goodness!)

Seriously, I would rather hear "bathroom talk" again in their normal conversations than these topics. I am not prepared for this- I am not ready for them to discover all the bad, weird, disgusting and disturbing things in the world. I want them to stay innocent, naive, and sheltered. It was a fresh reminder that I need to be constantly praying for them, for their friends and for their time away from home until they are able to decern truth in these and many many future topics of conversation.