Layman, “Doctor, I have a little boy four years old.  When ought I to
    talk to him about sex matters?”

    Physician, “When the child asks questions.”

    Layman, “What do you mean by that?”

    Physician, “Well,—­suppose the child asks where the baby came from?”

    Layman, “What do you say if the child asks that?”

    Physician, “I would tell it that the baby grows in its mother’s body,”
    etc.

    Layman, “I have a little boy eight years old to whom I have never
    talked about these things.  What do you advise?”

    Physician, “I would take the first opportunity, some time when the boy
    is not likely to be interrupted.  Refer to some newly arrived or
    expected baby and tell him frankly where the baby comes from.”

    Layman, “But Doctor, I have already told him that a stork brought the
    baby.”

    Physician, “Then tell him you told him that as a fairy story like the
    Santa Claus story, but that now he is old enough to know the truth. 
    Then tell him the truth.”

    Layman, “But I find it hard to talk about these things and I am afraid
    my child might ask me questions I could not answer.”

    Physician, “There are books, a list of which will be handed you, which
    you can read, and parts or all of which you can read to your child.”

    Layman, “What if my child asks me a question I can’t answer.”

Physician, “Don’t dodge or evade.  If you must postpone an answer, do so frankly with a promise that when you can you will answer, or that you will put him in the way of getting good information by reading or otherwise.”

This conversation should be extended to apply to adolescent boys and girls and to young men and women.  Enough has been given to show the nature and spirit of the dialogue.  The people’s interest never flags.  The layman must ask all the strategic questions, and he must keep at it until he gets answers in simple, understandable terms.  If the physician uses “function” or “cooeordinate” or “puberty” or “adolescence” or other academic terms, the layman must force simple words at every turn; and in any attempts to describe what a parent should say to a child, the layman should take care that a child’s comprehension is reached and that the parent is guided as, to vocabulary.  Both speakers should lift the level of their counsels above that of mere physical prudence; they should explain and duly emphasize the moral issue.

FOOTNOTES: 

[40] A classified bibliography is provided at the end of this volume.

CHAPTER IX

TEACHING PHASES:  FOR BOYS

By Harry H. Moore