One of the problems with having a parent as a pastor is the lesson plan they happen to choose for any given day. One time in particular still makes me cringe a little, but mostly laugh now that I'm an adult.
I should preface this with the fact that I was prude-ish as a child. Remember the song "Sex and Candy"? Well, it made me stone-cold silent and very uncomfortable when in would play in the car as my mom drove me to school/church/home. The song "Naked" by the Spice Girls? Even though I had that whole album memorized along with my two best friends in 5th/6th grade, I skipped it every time. Just hearing words like "sex", "naked", etc. made me red-in-the-face embarrassed. Sure I would dream about having a boyfriend, and getting my first kiss. However, anything beyond that was just not on my radar. {Phil is hoping Jillian and any other daughters we may have will be the same way. Otherwise, he's gonna need a shotgun when Jillian gets to junior high. HA!}
At my dad's church, you could start attending PYC, (Presbyterian Youth Connection), when you started 6th grade. When I first joined, we had meetings every so often at a PYCer's house. One of my first meetings, we went to someone's house. We ate some pizza/junk food and hung out for a little bit. After our bellies were full, my dad started the devotion he planned for the evening. It was a discussion based on a popular song at the time. The song? "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed that song. There was one part that I didn't feel comfortable hearing. Lo and behold, that was a part my dad mentioned.
"I'm cold and I am shamed, lying naked on the floor. What do you think she meant by that?" My father asked a room full of pre-teens and teens. My face started to burn.
If memory serves me correctly, no one really spoke up. If they were on the same page as I was, they were probably mortified that an adult said the word "naked" in front of them. Of course, it was worse for me because it was my DAD! I looked over at my older brother as if to mentally ask if this was normal behavior I would need to expect for the rest of my PYC life. He was just looking at the ground, not making eye contact.
Of course, when no one answered, my dad gave a quick analogy and moved on. I doubt it fazed him at all.
My dad did have good lessons to share, but I'm glad he only talked that candidly once in front of me. I also feel like that word would have embarrassed me a little even if a different adult did the same lesson.
Now when I listen to lyrics for potential lessons, I make sure there are no trigger words in case there are any kids similar to me.
Did your parents even do anything embarrassing in front of you?
When I was 11, the band Colour Me Badd was coming to our local state fair and my dad knew that I loved their music so he got tickets for me and a friend to go and of course, he was coming with too. As the concert was close to ending, I realized as their hit song started to play that I wanted to be anywhere but there... "I wanna sex you up..." was playing. An 11 year old girl with her friend and DAD listening to that song. Eek!
ReplyDeleteOh man! I would have just. died. Right there on the dirty fair ground floor!
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