 |
Gramps,
Can young people be boyfriend and girlfriend like Third Grade and higher?
Willie |
Dear
Willie,
In the
grade school years we can become pals with both boys and girls, and some come
to be very good friends. However, when you talk of boyfriend and girlfriend
that suggests sort of an exclusive attraction. Boyfriends and girlfriends go
out on dates together. This is not something that would be appropriate for
grade school children to do. I know it’s attractive. Almost all of our
advertising these days is centered on the attraction of one sex for another,
and the TV shows are filled with the stuff. So your question is quite a
natural one, which is undoubtedly on the minds of many children.
However,
let me point out some of the things that you would miss out on if you tried to
copy the social habits of those in the glamorous late teens. If you started a
special relationship with someone, the other guys in your age group would be
somewhat put off and would start excluding you from their company. You would
start to be left out of the activities that your friends participate in.
Certain social activities are appropriate for each age group, and it would be
a shame to miss out on these activities because you were trying to copy those
of a later age group.
Although
what I’m going to tell you now applies more to girls than to boys and was
directed at a person somewhat older than you, the principal is the same and is
applicable to both boys and girls.
Some
time ago my married son was looking for a baby sitter so he and his wife could
go out for the evening. One of their acquaintances volunteered her 13-year-old
daughter for the job. So when my son went over to pick her up, and knowing
that it was her mother that volunteered her, he said, “Now if you have
something else planned for this evening, like going to a dance or something,
we can easily find someone else.” The girl replied, ”No one would invite
me to a dance.” My son said, “Why not?” and the girl responded,
“Because I’m too ugly.” So after their night out my son wrote a little
poem for the girl, printed it on pretty paper and took it to her next morning.
He said, “I want you to hang this on your bedroom wall, and read it every
morning when you get up.” This is the poem--