Our Bodies Ourselves (the male version)

I've always felt that I had an open attitude to our bodies and sex; raising boys has taken that to a whole new level. It boggles my mind how open my oldest son is with me. Even at nine he is still completely comfortable discussing and showing me his parts. I have to encourage him to talk to his dad about it and try to set boundaries but he doesn't really care (although he has taken to locking the bathroom door when he uses the toilet).

My second son finds the body to be a treasure trove of humor. Farts are probably the funniest thing on the planet and he walks around the house saying, "Thbbbpt" constantly. Tonight as we drove to karate he asked me, "Mom, what is the most sensitive part of your body?" I came up with an immediate response but wasn't sure what he was thinking, so I said, "I don't know. What do you think?" He replied, "The front forbidden zone." I made him repeat it a few times to make sure that I heard him correctly. I had. This is what he and Rhys have taken to calling their penises. He told me that Dustin and Anthony (the amazingly educated next door neighbor boys who have taught my boys "the bird," sh** and juvie) called it a "dick." I told that I didn't like that term as it was rude and crass and that I thought he should just call it a penis; it's a body part like an arm or a leg. Quinn mumbled, again he had to repeat several times so I could understand him, that he was embarrassed to say "penis," in front of his friends. So we reviewed a few other words: tallywacker, johnson and wiener. "But that's a hot dog!" protested Quinn. I agreed but I said that it was a commonly used euphemism for a penis. Quinn then told me that he had a hot dog for lunch at school today and that he had taken the hot dog and put it over his "front forbidden zone" and told his friends to look. He thought it was hilarious. I wasn't quite so amused and we discussed learning the difference between appropriate humor and inappropriate humor. I have a feeling that I sounded like the adults on the Peanuts cartoons, "Whah, whah, whah, whah, whah." Ah, the joy of boys.