Chapter 944 - Relationship talk with the kids (1/2)
After everyone had their fill (Kitty included), Sarah and Aiden called their seven kids, Haru and Jesse to gather for a chat. Felix and Sophia joined.
Gennifer knew what the talk will be about, so she ushered the rest of the staff to help with the cleanup. Kitty was happy to take care of the leftovers (meat only).
Sarah and Aiden didn't previously discuss on who will say what, but Sarah guessed that she should start: ”We feel that there is a need to address a specific topic… In close future we don't forsee any changes in our living arrangements, and we want everyone to understand our intentions. You are officially here as our security, but we see you as an extended family. We hope that you all treat each other as brothers and sisters, but we are aware that there is a chance that you might develop different kinds of feelings towards one another…”
Ade raised his hand. ”Feelings like sleeping with a girl?”
Sarah blinked few times, hoping that he does not mean sleeping like sleeping-sleeping. ”Can you explain what do you mean by: sleeping?”
Ade nodded confidently. ”Like in the movies. When man and a woman go in the bed and...”
Aiden glared at Ade. ”What kind of movies are you watching?!”
Ade realized that he said something he shouldn't, and he shrank.
Sarah patted Aiden's hand, reminding him to calm down. Raising voice will not help with anything. Ade is only eleven years old… and they will enforce media control for him. And for the others. And it will be a strict internet control.
Sarah looked at Ade and then at others while speaking: ”That is between a man and a woman. Two adult and grownup people who have mutual feelings toward each other. Tonight, we are talking about boys and girls. OK?”
Seeing that everyone nodded, Sarah started explaining: ”Those different feelings usually start when you realize that you like spending time with that person, and you want to spend more time with her or him. And you want more… a touch, to hold hands…”, Sarah raised her hand while holding Aiden's. ”You want to spend time only with that person, without sharing her or him with anyone else. That is different from what you feel toward your brothers and sisters. Everyone understands that, correct?”
Once they clarified types of relationships, they moved on how to express them.
Aiden, Sophia and Felix joined into the conversation as well.
They spoke about: 'no means no' as the main rule.
”If you don't respect other's boundaries, you can't expect that others will respect yours.”, Sophia explained. ”You can't control who you will like. In the same way, you can't control other people's feelings. But you can be in charge of your actions. If someone does not like you, you can't force it…”
They talked how feelings are nothing to be ashamed of.
”If you think that a girl is beautiful, tell her that she is beautiful. Giving her flowers at that time is recommended, and it will improve her opinion of you.”, Felix advised. ”If you do it publicly, you will show that you are courageous. Girls like that.”
”Sometimes feelings are confusing, and you are not sure what to do. But no matter what the case is, remember that you need to always treat each other with kindness and respect, and protect one another.”, Sarah warned them.
Haru and Ade had the most questions. Ade's questions were mostly childish (he is only eleven years old), but Haru was also not much better considering his inexperience in interacting with girls. Aiden and Sarah were pleased to see that Haru is not shy of asking questions.
”How do you make sure that you are treating a girl with respect?”, Haru asked.
”It should be a common sense. Don't do to a girl what you don't want others to do to you. You can never go wrong with that.”, Aiden responded. ”Do you have a female in your life which you cherish, and you would never want anything bad to happen to her?”