TUHS Hallways

I walked into the kitchen and saw my mom folding laundry at the table. Standing on the linoleum, finding matches for socks, I informed her that I had four boyfriends. FOUR. Even today I can remember three of them, but that fourth one has slipped my memory.

How could it not have slipped my memory? It was 29 years ago. When I was four years old.

Several days ago, Annalyn was putting on a dance recital in the living room. She clearly expected me to be her DJ and kept asking me to play songs that she knows. I played a little Matt Redman and a few songs from my Disney Pandora station. And then, finally, I gave in.

Though we spend hours listening to worship songs and children’s music, my little girl and I also love jamming to the pop music of the day. Not much pop music. But the upbeat songs about dancing or love that actually don’t include any PG-13 language. Yeah, all three of them.

So as she hopped and bopped around the living room, I pulled up the music video for One Direction’s That’s What Makes You Beautiful. I’d seen it before, so I knew it was clean. So when she ran over to the computer to see who was singing that song we dance to in the car, I let her peek at the screen.

She looked at the screen, and then she looked at me. With innocent wonder in her voice, she said, “Wow, Mommy! That boy looks GOOD. Doesn’t he?” Later in the song, when the entire band was gallivanting on the beach, she said, “They look good! They look like boyfriends, don’t they?”

Oh. My. Word.
Really? It starts this early?
*SIGH*

Though I can’t recall who my fourth “boyfriend” was in preschool, I can tell you every single boy I had a crush on from kindergarten through high school graduation. And never was there a time when I didn’t have a crush on a boy.

I was hoping my daughter wouldn’t follow in my boy-crazy footsteps. I’ve downplayed the love stories involved in every Disney princess movie. I’ve told her, when she started playing “house” with her friend-who-is-a-boy every day at preschool, that getting married when you’re four is against the law. I’ve treated her friends equally, whether boy or girl, never making a big deal out of her friendships with boys.

And yet . . . here we are, singing along to a boy band, and all I could say was, “Um, yes, that boy looks nice.”

It’s time to buy school supplies. I feel like I should add lip gloss, a mirror and Tiger Beat posters for her locker to the list!

When did your kids {or when did you} first notice that boys/girls “look good”?

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