Growing up???

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

What I’ve been dreading for a long time has happened! My daughter has started speaking about ‘it’! You don’t get what ‘it’ is? You know.... 'LOVE'!!!! She spoke of ‘love’! We go ‘I love you’, ‘you love me’ at home all the time to each other. This is not THAT ‘love’. This is the ‘other’ love… you know…the ‘love’ love…....‘luuuuuurrrrrrrrvvvvvvvveee’..*smirk* *giggle*

Okay, I shall stop rambling!

Well, my daughter has been very innocent all these days. She does not talk stuff beyond her age as some children do and does not pay overt attention to any ‘uncomfortable’ stuff on TV or the movies. Even when my hubby and I get...er...affectionate...at home, she gives us an indulgent look, shakes her head and goes back to her book. Anyway, I’ve been quite happy about the way she handles that stuff.

Now recently, one day, she comes from school and tells me, ‘You know Amma, today A was holding M’s hand. And P asked them if they are 'in love’. A, M and P are her best friends at school! And she didn’t say it just like that. When she said the ‘love’ part, she had a naughty look on her face and she whispered it in our ears as if it was some taboo topic! My husband and I did not know how to react for a second. Then, resisting the urge to laugh, we told her that, there is nothing so great about holding your friend’s hand. It’s the most natural thing in the world to do. Then she said, ‘but he is a boy!!!’. And I said, ‘So what? Boys can be your friends too’.

I do really want her to grow up feeling that way. I want her to feel comfortable having lot of friends, boys and girls. I want her to understand that boys and girls can be friends and can hold hands and there need not always be ‘love’ in the picture. It’s only when you have lot of platonic friends that you can really experience the thrill of finding a romance! Isn’t falling in love with a friend when you least expect it such a thrilling experience?

Well, the end result of all this is that nowadays I’m busy teaching my six year old daughter that it’s perfectly okay to have boy friends and to hold their hands! Do you think this will boomerang on me in, say, another ten years or so???

10 other wanderers:

Anonymous said...

Isn’t falling in love with a friend when you least expect it such a thrilling experience?

YES!!!! and it can be addicting :).

Reflections said...

Hmmm.....read it with great interest.
Recently my kids were giggling about the word 'boyfriend' & I acted most casual about it & they stopped laughing after they failed to get a reaction out of me.

Good post. Quite relevant actually.

WannabeWriter said...

@taupixels: That's dangerous! :P And thanks for giving the impression that many people are reading my blog by posting under various names...hee hee...

@nancy: Your kids too! It's difficult to keep them away from stuff in today's world..you can only teach them the right and the wrong I guess...

I scribble here said...

hey!!i dont think it will come boomerang :) i think its important that kids know it from their parents rather than wheresoever. but its amuses me how the gap is decreasing every passing year.. we posed this ques to our parents probably much later, isnt it?i dont have kids but probably have to be prepared with an answer the moment my kid starts talking :)

WannabeWriter said...

@i scribble here:Thanks..I hope it doesn't! :) well...I think the best thing we can do is to be your child's best friend so that they tell you most of their secrets...I'm sure they'll not tell all.... :))

Unknown said...

Well... always willing to oblige but it is because I always forget which one of my ids I used to sign in into the openid.

Prakhar said...

hahah...."boomrang"...i wish it goes that way...then it will make a funnier post!

Parmanu said...

"Isn’t falling in love with a friend when you least expect it such a thrilling experience?"

The intensity in that statement suggests that you've had this experience recently (And, from taupixel's enthusiastic reaction, she too apparently falls into this category.)

Hmm....interesting!!

WannabeWriter said...

@parmanu:I'm honoured by this visit! :)) Keep guessing! :P

Renu said...

So true and right !, i also feel that gender should not ne any criteria for making friends,if the kids are made to feel that its very normal, then they grow up with an healthy attitude towards opposite sex.

 
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