[twitter]I don’t want to make it dirty, or uncomfortable, or all that other stereotypical, puritan uptightness that seems to loosen with each generation, but .. um .. ya.
Erections happen. They happen to me, they happen to my boys, and to them it is a wonder of the world. “Daddy! My peeps gets big all by itself!!,” they’ll exclaim. And while it first happens on its own, they soon realize that with a little manual manipulation they can make it happen on demand.
So now what? How do you tackle the erection issue by balancing a responsible, personal approach to sexual health, while at the same time not giving them so much permission that they show this “awesome magic trick” to everyone at school?
I try not to dance around issues with my boys. I give them as much information as they need to know. I’ve explained death to them. I’ve explained how banks work to them. This week, after I left the news on longer than I should have, I explained murder to them.
So erections get explained too. It happens to boys, and it’s just fine. I admonish the ‘on demand’ part because at 5 and 8 we don’t need to go down that rabbit hole just yet.
Here’s a video that explains, matter-of-factly, what happens and why males get erections. It might give you more ammunition when you’re talking about erections with your son.
