Another mom surprise

I never thought of things like this as a new mom or considered it to be something to prepare for as a parent of older kids, but the day when my daughters became “attractive” to boys was a tough one! I remember the specific instance it happened with each of my older daughters as well as the specific boy. I remember with each thinking, “oh geez, here we go,” and wondering what the heck happened to the boy that triggered it from the gross girl their class to the girl they want to date? What caused the boys to one day tease them and push them down, to “I want to be your boyfriend?”

They’re the same girl that was in their class last year and every year before that they didn’t say a word to. Same face, same hair, same name but all of the sudden, we want to text them and follow them around at games and stare at them a lot more. Obviously I remember how this whole thing goes from my own school days but like I said, as a parent, it’s a lot harder to comprehend.

I just see my daughters as my babies. Same kiddos I’ve watched grow since day one. My messy haired, goofy, sometimes sleepy faced, sometimes grouchy and sometimes prettied up daughters. When I see a boy do a double take when they walk by, I’m wondering what he saw that made him break his neck to get a second look? Did he know she just downed a footlong chili dog and still has red slushie color in her teeth? Apparently not. Apparently to him, she looks like she just appeared out of a rainbow.

Anyway, It’s not that I don’t think my girls are worthy of being attractive to boys, it’s just interesting to me when that happens and since I don’t have boys, I have no idea when that day comes that girls are all of the sudden pretty and then what is it about my own daughter that made them take a second glance?

I’d kinda forgotten about this whole subject since my older two girls have been in the dating world for a few years now but I was reminded a few weeks ago when my innocent little 10 year old was asked for her digits.

Twice in one weekend, two different boys wanted her phone number because they thought she was pretty. What? She’s just a little kid, right? I mean I know she’s grown a foot in the last year and has thinned out a bit but she’s 10! These boys were innocent enough, I watched them after she pointed them out to me. They would nonchalantly follow her around, casually looking at her now and then, of which she was appalled. Obviously she doesn’t see it either. She was totally grossed out that they were interested in her, nonetheless wanted to text her.

I looked at her too and thought, I still have to ask her to shower and she could care less if her hair looks nice, and I bet $5 she forgot to brush her teeth. What about her is pretty to them? What happened from last year that all of the sudden my awkward 10 year old is now attractive to young boys? Made me laugh, confused me and kinda made me sad all at the same time.

This recent romantic encounter reminded me of my older girls and the first time they came home and told me some boy liked them and thought they were cute. Then it hit me that I wasn’t prepared for that.

I knew, obviously, someday they wouldn’t be weird little kids, but I guess I never pondered what it would be like when they weren’t seen that way anymore. Another parenting surprise someone should have put in the handbook!