Open letter to the school nurse--RE: Puberty Talk

Dear School Nurse,

Thank you for taking the time to talk to our fifth graders about puberty. Unfortunately, it is ten days from the end of the school year, so it may have been too little too late. I am thankful you did not talk about reproduction. Although, I fear some kids need to hear about that, too. I am not naïve about what happens when kids go to middle school, and I have seen plenty of girls at the high school who are also new mommies.

Yes, every fifth grader should be showering and wearing deodorant—everyday. I agree, as we do live in Texas, where it is hot 9 months out of the year. “We” are quite smelly and sweaty even at 8am after P.E. Additionally, I wish you would have given some advice to those poor kids whose parents simply don’t allow them to wear deodorant? Should they sneak it? Should their teacher have some spray on deodorant for them to wear when they are at school? Should the children just wear a lot of perfume or perhaps don my personal favorite AXE body spray? (UGH, that stuff is awful.)

I was fortunate enough to sit in on the girls talk, and I did not think it was inappropriate. Yes, they did laugh from time to time, but I had to chuckle here and there, too. The girls had a lot of questions. I could gather that many of their parents simply don’t talk to them about the various “changes to their bodies.” I remember when I was in 5th grade, our school had their puberty talk at night and if you went, your parent (mothers for the girls and fathers for the boys) attended with you.

I will say, some of my female colleagues felt as if the talk for the boys was a little on the risqué/awkward side. Perhaps it is because we are women? Perhaps our society says it is not polite to talk about the “E” word? I don’t know, but I am thankful I did not have to lead them in that conversation.

Lucky for me, your discussion opened up the door to many, many more discussions. But, I am hoping that these discussions are taking place with their parents, rather than with their friends via Facebook, or texts.

In closing, I thank you for scheduling this conversation at the end of a day on a Friday. I am hoping they will get all of this newly learned information out of their systems, and they will have forgotten about it by Monday.

Thanks again,

Better you than me