Museum education.
When Scott and Lisa were around 11-12 years old, a special exhibit of French impressionists came to the De Young Museum. It was a wonderful show, and heavily attended. We took the kids to see this probably once in a lifetime chance to see these masterpieces. It was the kind of event where we dressed up a little to attend. We were looking at the Van Gough's in a very crowded room and Scott was reading the explanatory tags posted by the photos. Again during one of those eerie silences that fall upon a crowd now and then, his young voice rang through the room...."Mom, what is a broothel?" (Van Gough "The Brothel") The silence in the crowd became a hushed expectancy, as every ear in the room waited for the next move, and every person held their breath. Since Scott was old enough to have had "the talk" with his parents, and I do believe in honesty with children, I bent down close to his ear and whispered "it's a place where not very nice women let not very nice men have sex with them for money". An explosive and loud, "Oh Yuck" came from Scott and the whole room exhaled in a burst of laughter.