Last weekend the kids' school had a family skate night. I wasn't around, but Darin took the oldest two kids (and dropped them off--which I realize takes away the "family" part, but I guess you do what you can, right? He knew several parents that were going to be there. Judge us if you must). Anyway, when we were together later that evening I heard all about their adventures. At the skating rink they do what is called "snowball skate" where the everyone on the floor is to be holding hands with a member of the opposite gender. They have boys' choice snowball skates and girls' choice snowball skates. When a girls' choice was announced, a cute girl named Addie (who chases Sean every recess) approached Sean with a smile on her face. Before she could utter any words Sean said, "Nuh-uh. Don't even ask." and promptly skated away.
Yikes.
We have had several talks with him about the value of being kind to everyone, and discussed in detail that just because you're nice to a girl it doesn't mean you're in love with her. This latest episode brought on a whole new set of talks, including the fact that believe it or not, there WILL come a day when he'll be interested in girls and if he's mean to them now the ones he's interested in will have moved on to greener pastures. Don't get me wrong. I'm not in any hurry to have him holding hands and having girlfriends, but I do want my children to be kind. The funny thing is that I know he loves it when she chases him. He's just in the age where it's (supposed to be) icky to like girls (his teacher said that all the boys treat any word associated with love as a swear word. They'll even skip it if it's in a book). I think Addie knows where his heart really lies, and I don't think he was trying to be malicious (at least I really hope he wasn't). He was just trying to be cool in front of his friends. I can only imagine the teasing he would encounter if he was seen hand in hand with the "enemy". Anyway, I had a chat with Addie's parents at the soccer field (just so they would know I have tried to teach him to know better than that), and they got a good laugh out of it. We'll see what the future holds. To all you parents of girls, we are trying to train our boys to be good future husbands. I have a hunch they'll turn out o.k., (I have a story to tell in a future post) but I can't promise anything in the meantime.
10 comments:
Oh, it's so cute when they think girls are so gross. It's such a contrast to later when all they think about is girls.
I'm so glad you're back to blogging more regularly! I love hearing what your family is up to!
Sounds good to me, and I will work on making sure all the girls aren't TOO easy. What happened to playing hard to get??
I remember those Classic Skating days and what a HUGE deal it was to hold hands. Ah . . . the age of innocence. :) You're doing a great job at parenting!
It's cute that they think girls are gross. Just wait until they can't live without them. Then you are in trouble! I wouldn't worry about him say ew to holding a girls hand. Half the girls do it knowing that it bugs the boys. Oh to be in elementary school again! :D But I think you're doing great at parenting! I envy you with all your little boys. It must be hard work!
Oh man, does that sound familiar. I've had so many of those talks with my boys they must think I'm nuts. I do worry about one of my boys (he shall remain anonymous) who LIKES to watch kissing in shows and movies....whoa boy!
We have the opposite problem at our house. Luke loves to be friends with everyone. He keeps telling me about a girl in his class that he wants to marry. She doesn't want anything to do with him. His teacher told us he is the friendliest kid in the class. I think it's because he only has an older sister to relate to. Maybe too it's because he's only in kindergarten.
Oh that is too good! How can you blame the kid? He had to look cool in front of his friends. Oh boys and girls, I don't know if I am ready for all that drama!
Love this post! Matt just helped with a youth dance and he said it was painful to watch. What an uncomfortable stage of life. So thankful for moms like you to train those boys. Working on the girls at our end too!
Sean is not alone. I remember the time several cute girls came to our front door to bring my son, John, some Cheetos. Two seconds after he opened the door and saw the 3 girls there, he slammed the door in their faces. I made him open the door and thank them for the gift. He did it begrudgingly. It didn't discourage the girls. I heard later that one of them was confiding to her mother how cute he was. He could have cared less. Anyway, it all works out in the end. Several years later, he found a beautiful girl that he is now married to and he has changed his opinion about girls.
Ashton acts the same way, however, he has told me that he has decided he is going to marry Kate from his class. He is certain that this will happen when they grow up and often talks about it, however, I am never to bring it up and it can certainly NOT be discussed when anyone else is around.
I think Kate is totally unaware :)
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