What is sex, “asks Tiffany, the youngest member of the family, and embarrasses the father. Actually, he just wanted to have a little chat with his eldest daughter Luisa and her boyfriend Justin. The two are planning a tent tour, while the parents” times need a romantic weekend “, and the grandparents take care of the two younger siblings. But this plan of his seventeen year old worries the father. And she suspects what he means when he wants to talk to the young couple” Oh no. Really now? “Asks Luisa, rolling her eyes.” That is really not necessary. “She nudges Justin and he says:” I know all about it. “The father is just embarrassed. The mother tries to convey, the couple are cool, but are already much more experienced than their parents believe, which they confess without scruples.
For Marc Uwe Kling, in the third part of his family story, “The day on which dad wanted to have a delicate conversation”, the grandparents play as in the first two volumes “The day on which grandma broke the internet” and ” The day on which grandpa put the kettle on the stove “again played a special role. Because as hippies in their youth they can talk about sex most freely, and they know many family secrets that even leave their parents speechless. For example about the aunt, who lived in knickknacks and plush, and in reality led a secret love life.
The ping-pong impromptu game of three generations about sexuality is particularly fueled by questions from little sister Tiffany.
The pubescent brother Max finds the whole conversation just giggling. The ping-pong impromptu game of three generations about sexuality is particularly fueled by questions from little sister Tiffany. The father finds – it becomes more and more embarrassing for him – only convoluted paraphrases on the subject of love, sexuality, or having children. The grandparents and Luisa feel challenged to share their experiences. After all, Tiffany should know what the terms Mumu and Schniedelwutz mean. This encourages the illustrator Astrid Henn to create a bathing picture on the nudist beach. The climax of the father’s attempt at enlightenment, the comparison of the act of love with socket and plug, leaves a lasting impression, especially on the neighbor who happens to be present.
What matters to the father, with the delicate conversation, becomes clear at the end when he pulls condoms out of his pocket. He should rather use it for his own romantic weekend, says the daughter. That leaves the parents pretty speechless, brings Max to a never-ending fit of giggles and little Tiffany asks angrily: “Do you want to have sex again?” (from 12 years) Roswitha Budeus-Budde
Marc-Uwe Kling: The day on which dad wanted to have a sensitive conversation. With illustrations by Astrid Henn. Carlsen, Hamburg 2021. 61 pages, 12 euros.