Monday, July 21, 2014

A Conversation With Josh About Circumcision

I'm going to share a conversation I had with Josh (9y) last week. It involves circumcision. I am not, repeat NOT, trying to start a debate. I am simply sharing a conversation. I feel like some people might find it insightful. I know some people have guilt or regret over decisions they made regarding their sons. I was one of those people, but I'm moving forward and approaching the subject with my boys with open, honest conversation.

Please be respectful in any comments you choose to leave.

Backstory- Josh is circumcised. We were babysitting a little boy and Josh was watching me change his diaper. The little boy is intact.

Josh- Mom, why is his penis all squished at the end?

Me- That's his foreskin. Remember a while ago I talked to you about how you were circumcised as an infant? He wasn't. That is what an intact penis looks like. Your foreskin was cut off, that's why your penis looks differently.

Josh- Will it grow back?

Me- No.

Josh- Can they put it back on?

Me- Well, no, they can't put your skin back on you. But I have heard of a procedure in which men can restore their foreskin.

Josh- Would it hurt?

Me- I imagine so. Are you saying you want to look into it?

Josh- I think I might.

Me- I can certainly help you research that.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

How Many Elephants Are In This Room?

Had a really fun conversation with Josh (9y) this morning.

He's wearing a shirt that says " i^2 I keep it real " and we got to talking about why i is an imaginary number.

Then he asked me what 1 minus 2 was. I said negative 1. He said, no, negative 2, because there's no such thing as zero. We talked about that for a while and I asked him, "Okay, how many elephants are in this room right now?"

He looked for a minute as if I'd stumped him and forced him to say zero, but then said, "Well how can we know if some dead elephant skin cells haven't floated into this room? Or if the atoms making the things in here weren't once the atoms of an elephant?"

We briefly touched on the questions of what it means to be anything, how many parts of an elephant would need to be in the room before you considered one elephant to be there, and other philosophical things of that nature.

I love having these conversations with him. I especially love that he's willing and able to think about things in a totally unconventional way, and that he's alright with entertaining ideas even if they're a little out there.