Having just seen Spring Awakening which is all about the bad things that happen to kids when their parents keep them in the dark about their bodies, I think it's just fine that kids learn the word "scrotum." And the play the musical was based on was written in 1891, proving that some things never change...
Though I remember how embarrassed my dad was when, at age ten, I asked him what a prostitute was (I was reading an article in The People's Almanac about Jack the Ripper)
Here's my funny little kid story: years ago we had a "regular" at the zoo, Evelyn, who came to all our theater shows. She was 2-and-a-half and frighteningly precocious. One rainy day when we had no shows, the actors took her and her nanny up to look at the red pandas with us (for those who don't know, red pandas look kind of like bright red raccoons and are very cute). Looking at the panda, Evelyn asks, "Why do red pandas have tails?" I say, "Oh, for lots of reasons. For balance: to keep their noses warm..." As a joke I said, "Do you use your tail to keep your nose warm, Evelyn?" And she replied, "I don't have a tail; I have a vagina."
And five cyncial New York City actors had their mouths hit the ground.
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Gentlemen! We're burning daylight! Riders up! -Bill Murray
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