Thankfulness Project, Day 5
November 5th, 2011, Saturday
I am thankful, today, at risk of sounding worldly or petty, for my Ipod. I would never read anything anymore if it weren't for my Ipod and audio books. Kudos to the people who invented this, who read the books to me as though I were a 3 year old staring wide eyed at colorful pictures. I never EVER want a Kindle or whatever other electronic reading ideals they have out there, just bring on the audio books.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
So, I am facing a unique parenting problem.
First of all, it has to be said that when I was a girl, I chased the boys- they didn't chase me. We can sit and analyze the implications i just made all day, but the truth of the deal is, I liked boys, they liked it when I chased them, and I had no idea at all what I would do if I caught one of them.
In first grade, I threatened to kiss all the boys in the class and spent a good several weeks chasing them around the playground. They taunted. I responded. Eventually, we moved on.
From Kindergarten until at least 3rd grade, I liked the same boy- "Brandon T."- who then went on to become the star running back for his high school football team. I'm pretty sure it was my incessant chasing during recess that trained him into the athlete he became.
Several dozens of boys I chased.
It's another fact of life.
It's what girls do.
Brandon (My HUSBAND Brandon, who is not the same Brandon as the boy I chased in elementary school, though there WAS a fair amount of chasing that went on with THAT whole situation too. But that's another story.) was kind of a lady's man in school- elementary and up. In the third grade, though, he was suspended for 2 days for "sexual harassment" - the story? In the lunch line, some girl whined that her ding dong was smashed. Like the 9 year old boy he was, he made some off hand joke, and the girl told on him.
Lame.
Now, it's not like it's something that i have regularly sat and thought about in my parenting journey, but I'm pretty sure that somewhere, echoing in the back of my head, I expected my kids to do the same things Brandon and I did (minus the suspension.)
I suppose I haven't worried much about Lilly at all. Mahone's the one with a different girl he wants to marry every week. Lilly's "in love", unshakably, with yet ANOTHER Brandon- but this one, named for my husband, is only 7. And he loves her back, for now, it seems. So, she's kind of grounded, I guess, and not super into boys.
So, you can imagine my surprise when she told me "Mom, Jessica kissed me on the playground today."
Imagine my double take. "What?"
"Yeah, she kissed me on the cheek. Isn't that silly?"
Yep. Pretty silly.
The problem with it is, it has come up a couple of times now, and Lilly says "Mom, Jessica keeps kissing my cheeks. She won't stop." -accompanied by a nervous laugh. It seems to be making her uncomfortable, since she keeps bringing it up. I'm not sure she knows what to think. Is it weird? Is it normal? Is it what friends do? She doesn't know what to think, I think.
So I told her to ask her to stop. And if it doesn't stop, I'll talk to her teacher.
Awkward.
And to think- I was preparing myself for problems with BOYS. And much later than 6 years old.
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