We’ve all had those cringe-worthy moments with our kids—whether it’s a misunderstanding or a legitimate (but awkward) question, it’s jut part of being a parent. Every now and then though, we hear a story so awkward that we feel it is our civic duty to share it with the world.
Jason Manford shares the hilariously awkward conversation that followed when his daughter asked him what STD means. Manford posted the story on Facebook, which prompted other parents to recount their own embarrassing moments with their children.
While at a play centre, the comedian’s daughter asked him the panicking question, “What does STD mean?” Curious, she continued to ask—like most kids do in these situations—after Manford vaguely stated that it was a disease and that he’d tell her when she was older.
Uncomfortably, he tried to get something out. “…Well, sometimes, erm, two people, well, when two people make a baby, well no, not necessarily a man and a woman, but erm, two people erm, or more, well forget that bit, erm, if two people share a bed…”
The awkwardness intensified as he kept going, haphazardly trying to explain about people passing diseases to each other and to be safe and to just never doing anything like that. Ever.
Silence followed. His daughter waited. Manford recounted that he began feeling slightly better now that he’d gotten the tricky part out of the way, so he said to his daughter, “Why do you ask anyway?”
She responded with, “It says it up there, ‘Coffee: large or std.’”
Oh. Dear. Gosh.
Talk about the misunderstanding of the century!
Going forward, Manford has some pretty sage advice for parents everywhere. “Always ask where they’ve seen it first!”
After the post went up, tons of people responded with their own parenting mishaps, where they’d have been saved a lot of uncomfortable squirmy if they’d asked why their kid brought certain questions up in the first place.
Kevin Hunt chimed in with his own tale of misunderstanding and over-explanation. “My son came home from school and asked, what’s vice, so I took a deep breath and because I believe in being honest with my kids, explained in depth about drugs and prostitution etc, I then asked what made him ask, he said cos I’ve been vice captain of the cricket club.”
So, while these wonderfully awkward and hilarious mishaps will probably happen to you and your kid at some point, you may be able to avoid a few of them if you ask what they mean first!
Image via Wikimedia Commons
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