Does anyone else have a flood of bad memories when you see this picture? I have been driving around SLC a lot lately as I am soon to be homeless and looking for a place to live. My travels took me past Cottonwood Elementary where I saw this announcement on their marquee. Instantly I felt a little sick to my stomach and a little sorry for all children ages 8-14 or so. I don't know why I care anymore...I am through all that and probably am closer to the end now than to the beginning of it all.I guess you always remember traumatic things. I vividly remember everything about those maturation meetings. Starting in the 3rd or 4th grade there was already talk of it from older siblings and friends...the dreaded maturation meetings that started in the 5th grade. Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn. Inevitably the day came...towards the end of your 5th grade year. When they handed out those little slips of paper (a combination parental consent form and "Invitation" for your parent to attend with you) your heart just sank, because you knew, you knew exactly what that little slip of paper meant without even having to be told.
Each year was pretty much the same...5th, 6th, 7th. You awkwardly have to take the slip home and give it to your mom. Choose a time when she's really distracted and busy so she won't have time to make a big deal of it...and don't talk to her about it...just hand her the slip and disappear. That was always my plan. So a few days later, your mom meets up with you at the school for the "meeting." You walk into the meeting and try to encourage your mom to take a seat in the back...this was never too hard with my mom. They show you some video presentation sponsored by Always using little scenarios of teenage girls and their experiences with "growing up" and then give you all a little pamphlet with useful facts and helpful hints.
There was always the mom who raised her hand and gave comments and suggestions with TMIBT (too much information big time), the girl who was in your grade who for some weird freak of nature reason went through puberty earlier than the rest of the group and always had a lot to say, and then there were the refreshments afterwards...cheap-burns-the-back-of-your-throat-punch and yucky cookies...as if crappy refreshments somehow made the humiliation of the whole thing suddenly bearable...oooh cookies.
My mom luckily is, and always has been super cool. She never gave any embarrassing comments or any comments at all for that matter, tried to joke a bit and make a little fun of the weird moms to lighten things up, and encouraged me to skip the yucky refreshments so she could take me out for a real treat afterwards. In fact, I think she only came to the 5th grade meeting. In the 6th grade she asked me if I felt like I wanted her to come, to which I said, "No." She probably didn't want to go anyway. And in the 7th grade she didn't even make me go...she signed some slip saying that I was excused...that I knew all I needed the Jefferson County School District (District 251) to teach me about puberty.
So I know that this is a long post about Maturation Meetings, but seeing that sign the other day just brought back a lot of horrible memories. It was a traumatic time. I think I still have that little pamphlet of useful facts and helpful hints hidden somewhere in my room at my parents house. If I remember right, it is in a small manila envelope, hidden inside a bigger manila envelope(unmarked of course as to not draw attention to it), hidden at the very bottom of a box of odds and ends hidden under my bed. I don't know why I even kept that little pamphlet...I guess maybe I thought that those helpful hints would come in useful someday...especially since I didn't have sisters to get helpful hints from.
The Maturation Meetings never seemed to bother the guys as much as the girls...or at least they acted like it didn't bother them. If anything, from what I remember, it just gave them more to talk about at the back of the bus...and more informed conversation. Maybe it did bother them though...maybe they were trying to just act tough...like true men. All I know is that time is a time of my life I'm glad to be through with. Adulthood has it's own challenges but puberty is the pits. So be nice to kids with bucky teeth, stinky pits and Mexi-staches...remember you were one not so long ago. The end.
20 comments:
I remember going to one in 6th grade. They gave all the girls a little "kit" which included a tampon and pad or two. It came in this little box. The design looked like a kleenex box..you know the pastel colors that run all over each other...so pretty. But we were all so embarrassed because all the boys wanted to know what we got in our meeting. We thought we were so funny to tell them it was a box of chocolates. Don't these schools know the trauma this creates in your life. Geez!
is this a ut/id thing? i have never heard of this? we just had the awkward discussion in class while the boys were at recess or something. so glad my mom didn't have to be there too or it would have been that much more traumatizing.
To have a giant sign about it is even worse! Those poor Cottonwood kids.
What I remember about ours was that the boys got to play baseball during our meeting, and the next week when the boys had their meeting our softball game was only half-way through when the boys come running out to fill the rest of their time with more baseball. Yep! Their meeting was about 30 minutes, while ours was 2 hours.
Why? Because none of them would dare ask a question, and no father is going to share his own experiences about his testicles. That's what the locker room is for.
I have NEVER in my life heard of maturation meetings. Aren't parents capable of talking to their kids about puberty in the privacy of their own homes?
Wow! I can't believe I didn't know about this.
oh man.. this is a great post. my mom didnt make me suffer that. instead i suffered in another way....at Marie Calendars. I couldnt look at my mom the rest of the day....
This post is so disturbing, I don't know if I can even comment. I still remember the feeling I had when I had to go to my "maturation meeting" over 40 years ago. I was simply horrified. The school nurse we had was a rather large lady that scared me to death anyway and we didn't get to have our moms come with us, which would have been a comfort to me. No crummy punch and cookies either. Just humiliation. I'm glad you thought I was cool when I went with you because I was probably as freaked out as you were. I still remember the mother that gave too much information and still feel sorry for her daughter.
YIKES! I don't remember much from my childhood "meeting" but I do remember thinking, WHAT THE?!? Why hasn't my mom told me about this stuff before!?? I was naive and blown away.... and kinda creeped out too!
Either it was such an awful experience that I've completely blocked the memory or our school district didn't have that lovely meeting. Actually, I'm fairly sure this type of discussion never happened at school. However, my mother made sure the whole family knew I'd entered into "womanhood" by making a special dessert for dinner on the day it happened. There's a lovely memory for ya.
I honestly don't remember that day. Although, I do remember with the paperwork they sent us home with there was a postcard to mail to ALWAYS and they'd send you a sample pack of their stuff. I'm a sucker for any mail (and free stuff) so I sent it in and then I was terrified that the lady at the post office would know where it came from. Wow! That was a million years ago. I think I'm starting to feeling nervous all over again.
It's not just a Utah thing, because I'm from Utah and I had no such thing. We had a short speal in Health class in the 7th grade, and I don't think I even came out realizing that blood was involved.
It's too bad that the girls mature at 630, and the guys don't have to mature till 7.
I'm sorry that this was such a bad memory for you. Was I just dumb? I don't remember really worrying about any of it.....I was just wondering what in the heck the boys were talking about in their meeting!
Speaking of "maturation", I helped a girl in Primary today with the Article of Faith and she smelled like she had entered the onion stage. I kept wondering if her mom had noticed yet. She was pretty ripe too.
My mom's the principal of Cottonwood Elementary. I forwarded her your post. She'll get a kick out of it.
Haaaaaaaa Rachel that is awesome that your mom is the principal of Cottonwood Elementary. I thought it was funny enough when yesterday in church one of my friends who reads my blog told me that she was a teacher there, but principal is even better! I'm thinking of starting a campain to end public maturation classes. I'm thinking...why can't the kids do an online class in the privacy of their own homes? I'm going to change the world...one online maturation class at a time and help kids not have such traumatic childhood experiences.
I was one of the freaks of nature by the last year.... and my mother was the only one who came.
Yeah, well try being one of Aunt Grace's daughters with terms such as "under the hood check" "down there" and "stuff." I was so confused in high school anatomy but I think I finally figured it out in Women's Health my Sophomore year of COLLEGE!
ummmmm, what were the boys talking about in their meeting?
um.. hey random note here: could you help me out and tell me how to get that google reader thing?
Midway Elem. provided my complete "maturation education." No wonder I am still so confused! Ok- so this comment is really for me to confess as being one of your blog leeches. I found your blog a few weeks ago, and I find it quite entertaining!
And, I must apologize for trying to set you up on an awkward date a few years ago! I don't know if you even remember that- I'm sure you thought it was a little- ok, a lot, weird! -Camille (Poulter) Heck
Camille...I'm glad you came clean on being a leech. And no biggie on setting me up. I really don't mind it. At my age it is my only hope...so thanks for thinking of me. You at least approached the whole setting me up thing with class. I once had a lady say to me (and this is a direct quote)..."if you marry my son and put up with his crap I'll give you my house when I die." At least you made the date you tried to set me up on a little more appealing. Thanks and welcome to the blog.
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