Apparently, third grade is quite different now than when I was in elementary school. When I was young, I remember struggling to learn multiplication and division, and swapping snack cakes during lunch. My third grader comes home talking about who has a crush on who, and so-and-so broke up with so-and-so. The world of dating has already infiltrated our third-grade classrooms.
The other day, Michael was telling me that he found out the
girl he has a crush on likes him. I laughed, and he reminded me of the
seriousness of the conversation.
“Mom, this is my life. It’s not funny,” he said. I
apologized, and informed him that I don’t remember having these conversations with
my friends until I was in sixth grade, at the very least. I asked him what
happens next, since they both seem to have a crush on each other.
“I’ll just play it cool, you know? If she likes me, great.
If she doesn’t like me...well, let’s not think about that,” he said.
If this is already beginning in third grade, what do kids do
in middle school now? Are they already getting engaged by then? Oh, I almost
forgot to mention: this is a DIFFERENT girl than one he told me he liked last
week. All this before hormones kick in!
