Girls!
My son recently began school—7th grade. My wife was able to attend the first day to observe how his year would go. She would text me while observing things h would struggle with. It appears the young lady sitting next to him had forgotten one of her textbooks and needed to look on with my son. The scene my wife described went something like this. My wife was able to get our son’s attention and motioned that he share his textbook with the girl seated on his left. He moved the textbook one-inch in her direction without inviting her to look on. After a few moments our son looked back at his mother who again motioned him to share the book with the young lady. Yet again he moved the book one-inch in her direction—again without inviting her to look on. This scene was repeated several times until the teacher noticed what was going on. Having a son about the same age, she politely asked the girl to look on with my son while motioning her to slid her chair closer to him. My son turned pale, but finally responded by moving his textbook close enough for her to look on. That evening my wife and I were talking about the incident. She said how glad she was that he was uncomfortable around the girl, but also exclaimed how concerned she was that he was uncomfortable around the girl. The weird thing is that I understood what she was saying. It helped me to understand that before he and I have “the talk,” we need to have a few lessons on how to treat a member of the opposite sex. Although I am still formulating what to say, I know that this time will include things like manners, respect and genuine courtesy. I know it will include a discussion on where to focus his eyes. I am sure these will be very interesting maybe even embarrassing discussions.
