Thursday, October 23, 2008

PENIS!

one of the privileges i have as a youth minister is to talk to kids about sex and sexuality and how it pertains to their faith. i spent a lot of time this summer developing a sex curriculum with lots of help from various books, experts and friends (the friend conversations were definitely the funniest).

so we had a sex talk with 11th and 12th graders a few weeks ago, and the whole first half of it was pretty painfully awkward. finally one kid said, "it's not that this isn't relevant to us. it's definitely relevant. we just don't want to talk about it."

last night we talked with 10th graders and decided to squish all the awkwardness into the first 5 minutes. john started by saying, "we're going to play a game you all know and love... a game you probably played in the middle school lunchroom..." one girl raised her hand and said, "the penis game???" YES! the very one.

for those of you that don't know, the penis game goes a little something like this.

one person whispers "penis."

the next says "PEnis" a little louder.

then "PENIS" and "PEENNIISSS!!!!!!"

kids find this especially entertaining in public spaces... like lunchrooms or during spanish class. each person that says "penis" is basically daring the next to say it louder. i totally grew up playing this game. sometimes even in sunday school... the mother of all dares.

next time you've got to talk to kids about sex, try out the penis game, if it's age appropriate. definitely breaks the ice.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, after Adam and Bethany's wedding, penis was the only topic that came to mind?

lauren said...

no, i need to blog about the weekend too... there's just so much i don't know where to start!

Anonymous said...

OK. As a general rule, make penis a priority.

Susan said...

Too funny. The world is dying to hear about Niagara Falls and The Anchor Bar! you know when you crossed the bridge going into Canada (yes the "wrong" bridge) you were about 2 miles from the house I grew up in! How bout those laid back Candaian customs officials. "Where are your from?" "where are you going?" "OK"