And so it begins.

I'm uncertain where and how I should start this first post. It really doesn't matter, I guess, because it's pretty likely this whole thing will just float around in cyberspace, never read by another soul. Really, I'm writing this for me-- and for Chicky, who is turning eleven soon, and just beginning this impossibly challenging road. Adolescence. Oy.

I'm not Chicky's parent, or aunt, or family (in any traditional sense of the word), but I love her and her brother, and have become her Puberty Coach. I volunteered for the role, and I find it fun, fascinating, and more than a little intimidating. It's peculiar, how we handle talking about sex and puberty in this society. (And by "how we handle it" I mean "how we don't.") There's this sort of taboo that surrounds it-- as if educating kids is the equivalent of encouraging them to go have sex post haste. I just... well, I doubt it.

So here's what I advocate: humour, respect, and candour.

Let's see how it goes.