Early Relationships

One day after school my youngest busts open the school doors at afterschool pick up and loudly announces, “I have a girlfriend!”

“Woah! What does that look like?”

“Just the one, mom.”

“Well that’s good. It’s best to be faithful to one at a time.”

At this point the dad who was also standing there waiting for his kids just about lost it laughing.

“So, tell me again- what does it look like to have a girlfriend?”

“Well J has one and so does M, so I have one.”

“You know you don’t have to have a girlfriend. You are 5, we should really work on being a good friend.”

“Well, she is my girlfriend.”

“Okay, how did this happen, were you partners in class?”

“No, she isn’t in my class.”

“Do you play at recess together?”

“No- we don’t talk.”

“So- does she know she is your girlfriend?”

“No.”

And so began our conversation about consent.

The very next morning I get called up right at the wake up time to him stating,

“I don’t think I want a girlfriend anymore.”

“That’s okay, bud. Let’s just work on being a good friend.”

He signed a breath of relief. You could tell this had been eating at him all night.

Kessick's avatar

By Kessick

Teacher.Mother.Reader.Writer?

3 comments

  1. You are really good at conveying humor in your writing. I know I’ve heard this before. Reading it just now made me laugh out loud haha!

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  2. What a fun post to read! How cute to hear a 5-year-old’s thoughts on relationships. How lovely that he and you were able to straighten out the whole girlfriend/good friend thing. 🙂

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