My 10 Year Old

by Joy to 5

My 10 year old daughter approaches me about something she saw my 11 year old son doing in the garage.  She mentioned he has a huge wad of toilet paper and was hiding behind the cars.  Being a mother that's tried very hard to always be there when my children need to talk was very perplexed about this.  My children hardly ever keep things from me!

I strike up a conversation with my son about what his sister saw and he became very embarrassed.  The kind of embarrassment where I would think he's got teenage hormones starting to rage and is experimenting with his manhood.

Being so young I try to get him to open up about things and he mentions how he has been looking at pictures on the internet.  He won't tell me what kind of pictures.  He says he would be to embarrassed to talk about them.  I tell him there is absolutely nothing he needs to be embarrassed about.  We talk about growing up and how our bodies go through changes.  He looks at me funny and wonders what I'm getting at.  It raises my suspicions so I push a little harder questioning about the pictures.

Now, you must understand my son has Asperger's Syndrome and likes to focus on things most people would find odd.  He starts to tell me about the pictures and starts to get the first letter of the word out. "I like looking at pictures of S......" You can guess what I think the word is.  He tries again. "I like looking at pictures of Ssss......" I reassure him that it's alright and he knows he can talk to me about anything.  He says he's afraid I will laugh at him.  I let him know that I will not laugh! I really want to know what new things he's found that he likes to look at.

He tries again, this time He's more confident. "Mama, I like looking at pictures of Ssss.. Sssss.... Ssssurgical Masks!  Pictures of people wearing Surgical Masks!"

I must admit!  I was breathing a sigh of relief knowing my little boy was still a little boy!  I can deal with Surgical Masks!  It was one of those parenting moments when you know you were still being a great parent and everything is still going well.  We purchased him a box of surgical masks and he's looking at being a Dr. now.