Little Bean is now coming to the end of her third year at school and up until now has had a couple of ‘crushes’ on boys, two boys in particular but they have both been the ‘popular’ boys who barely seem to notice that she exists (my heart breaks for her). Just when you think that you have this parenting lark nailed, another issue pops up to challenge you.
A few weeks ago just before she celebrated her 8th birthday a new boys name began to crop up in conversation and so I asked her casually who it was she was referring to. She told me he was in Year 6. She said that a friend had told her this boy really liked her and she really liked him too. Cue palpitations for Mummy, how could we be having these conversations already???
At the end of school we will sometimes hang around on the playground and have a catch up with some of the other parents if the weather is being kind, others we will head straight home or off on some errand or another. Over the last few weeks I have noticed more and more that Little Bean has wanted to stay on the playground as long as possible and can often be found chatting to this boy.
One day last week when I collected her from school the skies were stormy so I said that we would be leaving straight away and Little Bean’s face fell. She skipped off quickly and spoke to the boy and then came back to me. As soon as we walked in the door she asked if she could have him come over for tea one night and I answered her honestly saying I wasn’t sure since he is so much older than her and will be leaving her school in a few weeks’ time. She looked disappointed but I said I would speak to Daddy and get his thoughts. He agreed with me.
The next morning she asked me again and I said that Daddy and I both felt he was a little too old and that with him moving to a higher school this Summer it wasn’t the best time for their friendship to develop. Immediately she began to sob and my heart broke for her. I gave her a hug and said that I wasn’t trying to be mean but we felt it was best decision for her at this moment in time.
She was very sad when I took her to school and I felt sad for her. I watched her clap eyes on the boy as she walked into the playground and she shook her head when he looked at her, then he looked sad too.
I spoke to a Mum who knows of the boy to ask for her opinion and she said that he seems a very nice boy but in the same situation she wasn’t sure that she would know what to do either. When I came home I messaged four people whose opinions I valued and asked what they would do and received mixed responses.
I don’t want her to feel that I don’t want her to have a boyfriend, its just the age difference at the moment as they are at different stages regarding school. I want her to feel that she can talk to me about these things without thinking I am being mean to her and to know that I only have her best interests at heart. She hasn’t mentioned him again since but I am trying to keep the lines of communication open with her.
This has come as a bit of a shock since I wasn’t planning on having to deal with ‘love life’ issues for a good few years yet!!
Aw the pangs of first love, difficult one x
Haha, yes I fear this will be just the start of things to come and the heartbreaks will only get harder as they get older x
Don’t really feel I should like this comment,but understand x
Oh bless her – I had a crush at school on a boy called Jamie Churchill at primary school – he later turned out to be gay LOL. I do feel for her though, in our school the older kids help with the little ones and Eliza is rather fond of a couple of boys too and they will give her a hug back – its all innocent at that age
I think this is what has sparked the crush with her, the school is very big on mixing up the years and getting them to look out for the younger children and it makes them look like heroes. Bless Eliza too, she’s starting young 😉 x
Oh gosh this is just so incredibly cute! I was oohing and aahing all the way through x
In follow-up to this post, she gave the boy a letter last week to tell him she loved him. I asked her what he said, she said “I didn’t know, I gave it to him and ran” haha bless her x
This is so cute! My sister has her first boyfriend (she’s 12) and I still think she shouldn’t have one yet haha
Haha I know, it’s a scary time. One that I always knew would come but I’m still just not prepared for it.
My elder sister was in the same situation when her 9 year-old boy had a crush on a beautiful girl next door. My elder sister also felt so weird to deal with such situation which she had never been thought of.
It’s been an interesting few weeks since then and today he left school which resulted in lots of tears 🙁