When I was a single mum I used to go out with a really nice man who often included my children in his generous invitations.

One such invitation was to attend the "Meaning of Life" - a Monty Python classic. My second son at this time was only 6/7 years of age and although I accepted for both of us, I was most unsure of its suitability for someone of such tender years. When I voiced my concerns to my friend he assured me that it was a comedy and shouldn't be a problem.

So I accepted.

We arrived at the Canberra picture theatre and sat down. Moments later the seats behind us were filled with what looked like young university students; about 10 of them, all dressed in black. It was a good night, obviously the film was popular and the theatre filled quickly.

Well, we weathered the Catholics having babies dropping out of the sky, the Protestants thinking the Catholics were having a better time etc. Then came the sex education bit - you know where the classroom is filled with small, snotty schoolboys all eagerly awaiting the moment of truth, clarification; at the same time the teacher/s (husband and wife) are having a discussion about the intricacies of sex and who is coming to dinner the following Saturday night. Meanwhile the class blackboard is converting into a bed and dropping down out of the wall. It's all going on.

Young Smith-Brown-Jones is reprimanded by John Cleese and told not to look out the window at the cricket, but to have his eyes to the front. All the while there is this running commentary on which piece of genitalia belongs to which gender etc. and what the moving parts will finally produce.

So here we have the teachers discussing the female genitalia - in detail - and the theatre is really quiet; in fact you could say that you could hear the proverbial pin drop. Fact is by this time I am squirming in my seat wondering what is coming next and thinking this film is really not suitable for my young son.

Then no.2 son asks me in his piercing voice "Mummy what is a clit..is?"

His voice had good - in fact great - carrying qualities and the whole theatre erupted - the students behind me literally fell on the floor they laughed so much, I wanted to get under the seat and hide; while my son genuinely wanted to know the answer!

Amidst the debacle I said to him "Darling - let's go across the road and get a chocolate milkshake" and he was happy with that!

I am a great fan of Monty Python; but I never did see the end of that particular movie.

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copyright: a.a.gallagher 2008  

The above video is what one might term a stacked game!

I remember when the same son referred to above, was playing in the under 15s hockey and we all went off to some totally freezing country town that was situated miles away only to find that our boys were playing these giants with "huge amounts of hair on their legs" - definitely not under 15 boys. No points for guessing who won this game!