A few weeks before Christmas break, it was my daughter's turn to have her Student Spotlight. We showed the kids in her class the pictures on the poster we'd made, and read her favorite book, and then it was time for the children to ask her questions.
A little boy raised his hand and my daughter called on him.
He smiled up at her. "Who is your favorite boyfriend at this school?"
"Dillon," the teacher said in a warning tone. "You can't ask that kind of question."
He glared at her. "Fine."
He looked at Sarah again. "Who is your favorite boyfriend in this CLASS?"
She responded, "I can't have a boyfriend until I'm 16."
Score one for brainwashing.
Since then I've heard all about which boys want her to come play with them, which boys want her to be their girlfriend, which boys protect her from the other boys that want to kiss her. She is in FIRST GRADE. This cannot be normal. Is it?
Last night, in spite of the excessive amount of romance that seems to be percolating in her brain, we took them to see Enchanted. I don't know what was better - the movie, or watching my daughters watch the movie. They were enthralled. Sarah was so overcome by the romance of it all that she kept kicking her feet and squealing and covering her face. Like her mother.
Tonight after we downloaded some of the soundtrack songs and danced around the living room, she told me that Ian, a boy in her class, is the "love of her life." And then she sang along to True Love's Kiss, giggling.
Help.
P.S. I'm guest posting over at Segullah today, if you'd like to read about my first kiss.
Hmmm....perhaps locking her in her room until she's 16? No, make that 24.
ReplyDeleteuh-oh! She is such a doll. She's going to have to fight boys off with a stick. Or you guys will. I love the excitement your girls have about love & fairy tales...if my kids see anyone kissing in a movie they FREAK!
ReplyDeleteBe glad she waited until 1st grade. My daughter was engaged 3 times before she was 5.
ReplyDeleteFirst there was Ethan, a darling little boy she held hands with in her 3yo preschool class. According to the teacher, they were quite an item all year long.
Next there was Andrew. Brielle wanted to marry Andrew, but Andrew wanted to be a Dinosaur.
Then came Kenneth. Brielle came home from preschool one day and told me "Mom, I want to marry Kenneth, and he wants to marry me, and we think that makes sense!"
Kenneth told the same thing to his parents, then they moved to Idaho.
Brielle is 9 now, and thinks boys are "ICKY"
Jill
This is totally normal. When my son was in 1st grade he was getting love notes from all the little girls in class. I finally had to go to the teacher because it was disturbing him too much. If I remember right, 1st grade was the first time my daughter told me she was in love. Just get ready for a fun ride! It's so fun!
ReplyDeleteHey, where didja get that new header? I love it!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a little girl, and I only tell you this to relive my glorious past, the little boys used to fight over who would sit next to me in Kindergarten. I turned out completely warped and have needed a lot of therapy. But you can't actually blame it on THAT.
I think she's adorable... but I don't envy you her teenage years.
Oh no! You're done for. This is why I'll only ever have boys. That's the plan at least.
ReplyDeleteI love that she told the boy she can't have a boyfriend. Too funny.
ReplyDeleteI was "getting married" to a boy in first grade. Amazingly enough, I married someone else. ;)
Oh, you scare me. My oldest is 6 and in Kindergarten. She hasn't talked about "boyfriends" yet. I am definitely enforcing a NO BOYFRIEND rule for quite a while, maybe until she is 30. Well, maybe 25.
ReplyDeleteYes, I am scared to death for my little girls to grow up!!! And I know it is going to happen too soon!
Oh that is sooooo normal.
ReplyDeleteMy friend's mother offered her grandkids a thousand dollars if they wouldn't kiss anyone before they graduated from high school. I think all the girls got paid out, but I don't know about the boys. Of course nowadays you'd have to be way more specific and you'd probably have to up the ante, but still.
My oldest daughter's first marriage proposal came in the first grade...and my younger daughter tells me frequently that she plans to marry a boy in her Sunday School class. She is eight. Sadly, it begins all too early.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, the cooties come back about 3rd grade. ;-)
ReplyDeleteUh-oh, sounds like you are in for it already ;o) You'll have to get a big stick to fight the boys off with. Is it to late to lock her up in a pickle barrell until college?
ReplyDeleteWhat a darling post. You know I have that 6 year old daughter too and I know what you are talking about! They are too cute, aren't they? I hope you had a wonderful Holiday and Happy New Year to you and your family. I hope 2008 is the best ever - for all of us. See you soon. Kellan
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in first grade (in 1978), the boys spent most recesses chasing us girls and trying to kiss us. That "love" thing was all the rage.
ReplyDeleteBut by third grade? The opposite sex was evil and icky again.
So I wouldn't panic.
But the brainwashing is obviously working (could you send some tips my way?!?), so I would keep that up as well.
Oo- I loved that movie! Hopefully you downloaded the Working Song! That's my new favorite. But use it sparingly. At my house it only got my kids to clean once.
ReplyDeleteI have a similar romantic past. Had my first kiss at age 3 (he had a powerwheels motorcycle he'd take me for rides on - what a hunk), and had been in love approximately seven times before I hit grade one. I leveled off when I was about eight or nine. Hee hee.
ReplyDeleteIt starts so young! AAAH! She is such a cutie. Like Holly said, you are going to have to fight the boys off.
ReplyDeleteI want to see Enchanted. I bet your girls did love it.
"Love" is rampant here in kindergarten, so maybe they are (thankfully) late bloomers at your school.
ReplyDeleteThere will probably be a long line of yearning teenage boys waiting at your door the day Sarah turns 16!
And who says brainwashing doesn't work?!?!
ReplyDeleteI bet your husband will be sitting on the front porch with a shot gun sooner rather than later...
Heidi
Your daughter is beautiful, so get used to boys in pursuit!!! Scary, huh?
ReplyDelete16 is our rule too for boy/girlfriends and it worked for my first 2...but I have 2 to go, one of which is already boy crazy! I just know that it gets much worse in middle school--then they have the hormones working for them too. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteGreat stories-on both blogs. It's too bad your daughter doesn't have a bunch of older brothers. That's how my dad kept me in (and the boys) in line:)
ReplyDeleteFind a good ironworker and have a chastity belt made up.
ReplyDeleteIt's your only guarantee.
OMG... I would have totally been watching my daughter watch the movie. LOL. I can't wait to do things like that with her!
ReplyDeleteEmily was only a hair over three years old when she piped up at dinner time that she wanted to marry Joe, a kid she knew from the storytime program at the library. And in her first year at preschool (age 3.5), she went through a huge phase of being obsessed with weddings and being married, and would ask the different boys in the class if they would marry her (because at home, her daddy would play along, or Jared (18 months old at that time) would play along to the best of his ability). The little boys did NOT know what to think of her and the moms and the teacher just thought she was adorable! Now she's in Kindergarten and you mention the word "boy" and she makes yucky faces and sticks her tongue out in a very clear "EWWWWWWWW!: expression. LOL
ReplyDeleteOn a sidenote, Emily and I LOVED Echanted as well!!!!!
I have to think of it as precious right now at 7 because I know that the same comments will mean much different things when they come out of a 16 year old's mouth
ReplyDeleteHey - I love your new header - very nice! Kellan
ReplyDeleteWow. I am so not looking forward to that part of having a daughter.
ReplyDeleteOh, my. Have you been hanging out with my seven year old? She's got it bad, too. Theo is her love...she put a secret admirer love note in his mail box. Apparently, this is what she and her little friends discuss over lunch.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think it's utterly adorable. I SO remember Paul, in kindergarten, kissing me on the cheek during our ride home from school on the big, yellow, bus. I also remember David, from second grade at Immanuel Lutheran. We were going to get married, but his parents were missionaries and they moved to Africa. I still wonder about him.
Ahhhhh...pure, childish, love.
Be glad she tells you about it.
Nothing much to say. I just thought I'd leave a comment because I don't want you to die. I'm new to your blog and can I just say how much I appreciated reading your statement about commenting. I hope you don't mind, but I mentioned it on my blog because you put into words my feelings. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou just made homeschooling look soooo attractive.
ReplyDeletePoint out that 'prince charming' wasn't so charming and was totally clueless.
ReplyDeleteDarn that Disney for telling us that our prince will come rescue us only to find out that our mother in-law is the same evil queen we were running away from.
Uh, not that I would know or anything. :)
Our daughters will not be dating until they are 16 either. Luckily, it has not been a problem so far. After all, when you're 7 and 9, boys are somewhat yucky creatures.
ReplyDeleteWhen my son was in the first grade, there were two little girls in his class that were madly in love with him. They fought over who would get to sit next to him, and who could be his girlfriend for the day. The teacher told us that she was constantly "peeling" one girl off of him. (He is pretty cute;0)
ReplyDeleteThe funny part was that he was completely clueless about the whole thing.
Like her mom, LOL! That's so cute!
ReplyDeleteA good cure for Enchanted would be P.S. I Love You. **sniff, sniff** Bring tissues to that one, for sure. And don't listen to sister-in-laws that try to tell you it's a romantic comedy just to get you to go with them.
GO MOM for forbidding dating until 16! Goodness knows kids today are growing up far too fast as it is.
This is exactly why I'm thinking it's not such a bad idea to lock my daughter in a tall tower until she is of age.
ReplyDeleteOh, gosh, they are funny, aren't they? But yeah - in the third grade they start disliking each other. (And after 40... but that's another story, heh heh!)
ReplyDeleteI LOVED Enchanted, and watching my kids watch it, too. My 11-year-old laughed at all the grown-up jokes (like the idea the prince and princess would decide to get married the second she plopped onto his horse), and my 7-year-old laughed at all the kid stuff. It was a great time.
Oh boy, you have TROUBLE on your hands, I'm afraid. And Enchanted? Love it. That "true loves kiss" song ran through my head for at least a full day after I saw it!
ReplyDeleteIt just keeps happening younger and younger. My kindergarteners were just talking about a girlfriend. Yikes!
ReplyDelete