Reading Maketh a Full Man...

I had a friend recommend this book to me many years ago and I have to admit that it is one I keep nearby to "re-read" often. After reading "Packaging Girlhood", and their expose on manipulative sexual content in books and movies and advertising presented to young girls, I feel this book is even more important. Where does your child learn about sex? From the media? From books? From movies? From peers? From older children? Wouldn't you like them to learn a true picture from people who love them instead? In an effort to help parents step up to this job, the Eyre's have written this excellent book. Broken up into age categories, they encourage you to begin real discussions with your children and then give you practice discussions to help. Broken up into these age categories -- Preliminary talks with three to eight year olds, the big talk at age eight, follow up talks with eight to thirteen year olds, behavior discussions with eleven to sixteen year olds, and then discussions with fifteen to nineteen year olds -- you can see why I "re-read" the book, as we hit new ages, new areas are now important to talk through.The Eyre's have used the material on their own children, and they have 9! There are even letters from their own children now adults, discussing how they learned about sex appropriately from their parents and how it helped them later when presented with gross misinformation in the media or from friends. Again, after reading "Packaging Girlhood", I was struck with the manipulative description of sex, turning it into more of an athletic and ecstatic physical event. If girls (and boys) are presented again and again with ONLY media portrayal of sex, then they will believe indeed that that is how it is! So.... preempt those lies, and lay the foundation for a true and healthy and godly understanding of what marriage and sex and babies and families really are. Blessings from the Lord, not fake athletic sex with air-brushed model bodies.One of the portions of the book that I have found to be most worthwhile is "Making Decisions in Advance". With your 8 to 13 year old, you can sit down and plot out a basic life expectancy. 1 to 72 years, for example. Next make a list of decisions that you will need to make during your life -- going to college, getting married, what occupation to focus on -- these they call "category one decisions". Other decisions have to do with right or wrong decisions -- doing drugs, drinking alcohol, not smoking, sex before marriage -- these they call "category two decisions". You can now lead a great discussion with your child about some decisions that have to wait until you are older..... you will make a decision to marry but you'll be older, not 12. But some decisions you can make now, because you know now that they aren't things you want to be doing -- not smoking, not drinking alcohol, not engaging in sex before marriage. And then you show them that decisions made without thinking can affect the rest of your life. You bring out the 1 to 72 years of life timeline. You show them that making a decision NOT to smoke as a young person can give them better and longer health for the rest of their lives. Seeing the visible timeline helps even an 8 year old understand that "if I do this NOW, I'll have to live with it for the rest of my life" in a very tangible way. So, tell the truth to your children early and often and keep telling them the truth for years and years to come! This book is a great help. The information is appropriate and edifying. I will be using it for many years to come myself!