Young Love...Ugh!

Ahh, young love. It's like a gummy worm. It's sweet and creepy at the same time. My oldest son Kole, who is 7 years old and in the 2nd grade has already become the object of a female classmate's affection. Nearly every day this little girl sends him home with his jean pockets stuffed full of love notes scrawled on little scraps of paper. We actually started putting these notes in a box appropriately given the title “The Sara Box”. One day Kole mentioned to Sara that his mom was a little concerned about all these love notes. That day Sara sent Kole home with an elaborate construction paper love project and wrote on the bottom “Don't show your mom”. The little hussy.

Sara is a nice enough girl, it would seem, however, from Kole's first day of school she has given him plenty of experiences that will most likely keep my poor son guessing about the oddities of girls' behavior for years to come. The best advice I could give him was, “Son, girls are weird. They're confusing and once you think you've got them figured out they do something else to confuse you all over again”. To which he simply replied, “Um, thanks for the advice, Mom”. He then sighed and looked even more confused than ever. Poor kid.

And so it begins. But isn't the 2nd grade a little young for all this talk of love and romance? I suppose I was about 7 years old when I had my first crush on a boy that wasn't James Bond or Ricky Schroder, but I never acted on it. The thought of sending a boy a love note made me want to puke out of embarrassment. I would think that at this age, most boys could really care less. Which is why I was so surprised to hear about Kole's plights each week when Sara would say or do something to make him begin to wonder about the psychology of girls and the reasons for their odd behavior.

The following are actual, word-for-word quotes from Kole. My husband and I were simply beside ourselves with amusement....and sympathy.

“Girls are so weird. Seriously, they don't make any sense at all.
For example, there's this girl at school named Sara. She got mad
at me today because Isabella wrote her phone number and email
address on my hand. She ran off at recess and started complaining
to one of her minions about what a jerk I am, and how much she
hated me and never wanted to see me again! We're in the second
grade for crying out loud!”

Yes, he really did use the word “minions”.

“So I decided to talk to her about it. I said, 'What's your problem?
Why are you mad at me when Isabella was the one who wrote her
number on my hand?' She didn't answer me. Do they always side
together like that?”

Yes, son. They usually do.

“The other girls in the class started teasing me about what we
wanted for our anniversary. Thank goodness the book fair
came along. It saved my life!”

The kids were so excited about the book fair, they forgot all about the drama of Kole and Sara. At least for the week.

“Sara and her friends chase me around the playground a lot.
I like being chased by girls. They're slower than we are. Boys
are faster and we're stronger. They're easy to get away from.
It makes boys feel good to know that and prove that on a
regular basis.”

Just you wait, kid. They'll catch you eventually...brace yourself.

I'm sure he'll figure things out as time goes on. Perhaps when he's in his 60's or so. For the time being, his dad and I will help him out as much as we can. We'll try to give him guidance and insight to the female psyche without inflicting too much damage or causing too much more confusion. But, then again, some tasks are nearly impossible. Especially when it comes to girls. God, help us.