My seventh grader learned last week what can happen when you tell a boy you like him.
Things change. Suddenly there’s more pressure. Friends get involved. There’s teasing and blushing, expectations and hurt feelings. It can be a lot for a mere 13-year-old.
We’ve told our kids they aren’t allowed to date in middle school, maybe even well after that. And while my daughter understood that before, she gets it even more now.
She likes having friends. She likes hanging out with her friends. And after last week, she realizes that it’s much more comfortable to just be friends.
We can hope that she feels this way for years to come. But it’s more likely that she won’t. She says she’s never going to tell a boy she likes him again.
And I have my fingers crosses. At least for the next few years.
FranklyStein is a blog by Chesapeake Family Magazine editor Betsy Stein who lives in Catonsville with her husband, Chris, and four children, Maggie, 13, Lilly, 11, Adam, 11, and Jonah, 7.
