And So It begins...oh My!!

Well, we are super oldschool, Cheryl. What I said to my boys at that age was, "You can have all the friends you want to, boys or girls, but no serious girlfriend. She is welcome over, or you are welcome to go to her house, as long as it is a group function. You can go to youth group together, you can hang out with friends and that's it."

I also didn't (and still don't) let them use the term "hot". Pretty is totally fine, but the other is a referrence to them being sexy and I don't feel it's too respectful.

It's okay to like girls. We are awesome, after all. But that's where it ends when you're 11.

ETA - @Momof4 - I'm too sexy for my answer, too sexy for my answer...NO WAY I'M DISCO DANCING!!!

My oldest boy (now 18) wasn't interested in girls, still doesn't want to date anyone. My now 16 year old daughter was always liking someone. We always told our kids that they are not allowed to have boyfriends/girlfriends or date until they are 16. It saves a lot of drama. My daughter had a boyfriend after her 16th birthday and it lasted 2 months. He never wanted to go out. He just wanted to facebook date so she ended it. I liked the facebook dating...LOL

My eldest daughter is 11 and while she thinks some boys are "cute" she thinks that crushes on boys she knows are gross. Some of her friends are starting to get boy crazy and it stresses her out. She prefers crushes to be on celebrities.

She has this cognitive dissonance, I think, because the boys she knows are friends and "you don't have crushes on your friends, Mom!" I hope that when she gets older and is in high school and college, her friends are among the boys she chooses to date. My worst relationships were with guys who weren't friends first. My best relationships were with guys who were friends including my husband.

Lisa C....had a *HOT* answer ;)

i have 4 sons, and 11, two 13 year olds, and a 5 year old, and if i didnt hear them talking about girls, i would think they were sick, thats how much they talk about girls, they even have my 5 year old talking about "hot girls", oh my. At 11 he doesnt know what real datting is, just like my 11 year old, he can say he has a girlfriend, but we all know they might sit together at lunch and thats it, my 13 year olds i worry about little more, because i dont want them datting a new girl every week and become one of "those boys", i have always taught my boys to honnor girls, and NEVER use them, and try to keep them away from saying "hot" and say beautiful instead. And your girl didn't get interested into boys till high school?!? Lucky you! I have 2 girls 14 and 16, My 16 year old was a little more like yours, BUT was very aware of males before then, but never really "dated". But my 14 year old, o man, i remember her coming home one day when she was a 7th grader saying she was datting a boy, it lasted a week, she didnt really take the break-up hard haha, but now shes in high school she satarted datting a softmore, and they just broke up, and oh man did she take that hard, sometimes you jsut have to hug them and say anything (tip for the future) haha, so thats my experince . . so far, lol im sure im going to have A LOT more break ups im going to have to deal with, what a joy!

Tommy wasn't into girls until high school and Andy has hit 12 with no interest so I really haven't a clue what to tell you. I would have laughed, good thing my boys never came to me.

My oldest is 12 & apparently actually danced with a girl when he went to the school dance held last Friday. I've been fretting about it ever since to be honest even though I know he's respectful & likely much more scared of girls than he's letting on. The fact that he not only danced with someone, but he told us (withholding the name of course) about it when he got home. Oy!!

11? Oh boy. Maybe it's the hormones in the milk we consume. ;-) My kids are young and the other day my li'l one said, "Mommy, it's not gross when daddy kisses mommy but it is gross when a boy kisses a girl." My older one hasn't even said a girl is pretty yet.

So are you going to let him have her over? Maybe you could make friends with the girls mom and just have them all over for dinner?