Crushes

Emma tells me yesterday about a boy who has a crush on her. Apparently he had his friend approach Emma to tell her about the crush and ask if she wanted to be girlfriend/boyfriend. She didn't give him an answer yesterday. I didn't offer any advice and waited to hear what her plan was... Today she told me that she answered him. She told him that she wasn't old enough to have a boyfriend but that it was ok for them to have crushes on each other. Perfect. I am really glad I gave her the chance to come up with that herself. I was relieved that she felt that way.

Even though I had lots of little elementary school boyfriend relationships that were completely harmless, I wonder if today would be the same. It seems like kids are exposed to more sexually explicit things these days that might affect even fourth graders.

I wonder at what age Emma will change her tune and start feeling like she IS old enough to get into a relationship. Ken and I haven't even talked about dating rules yet.... eeeeek! How much power, beyond education, do we really have?