It's Starting

The awkwardness, the silliness, the “I have no idea how to act when I’m around them so I’m just going to act like a doofus” behavior.

Where has the time gone? He’s 8, only 8, and it’s starting. I’ve seen the slow progression of transition, from not paying any mind, to actually starting to notice. The “oh they are just other kids” to the “sure they are kids, but they are different than I am”.

It’s the realization that girls really are a bit different than boys. And I think the curiosity of it all has dropped his IQ by a few points….at least!

It’s innocent to be sure because he hasn’t made the connection yet that boys really DO like girls. He’s just starting to realize that girls are different. I’ve personally witnessed a few (I don’t know if you would call them crushes, this mom certainly isn’t ready for that), girls that have caught his eye for one reason or another and his behavior changes immediately…and not for the better. He watches them like a hawk, wanting to interact, waiting for his moment to enter into a conversation, and then once he gets chance he turns into a kid I’ve never seen before.

My eight year old, who spoke his first word at 6 months and hasn’t stopped since, is now babbling, and making up words when he is around girls. He can’t put a sentence together for the life of him. So his “go to” secondary response is babbling followed by doing some kind of strange tribal-like dance as he walks away from them. Oh and if that doesn’t spike the girls interest enough to make her follow him (because who wouldn’t want to follow a babbling tribal boy?) he will come back and start talking like he knows everything about everything. Boasting about the simplest things like how many soccer balls he has (not even going to let my mind go to what Mr. Sigmund Freud would think), or how high he can swing on the swing. How far he can hit a baseball, and if all else fails he starts bragging about what his parents can do.

I never understood why boys acted so WEIRD around girls when I was little. I couldn’t figure out how they could be having normal conversations about toys, sports and only God knows what else when they are in a group to themselves but then you throw a girl into the mix, or even if a girl just walks by, and their minds immediately turn to mush.

Now that I’m a mom to boys, do you know what? I STILL don’t have a clue as to why they act like a doofus around girls. My first guess is that it is nerves. What they have to be nervous about at the tender age of 8, I have no clue, but they are. Couple the feeling of nervousness with the need to show off for some odd reason and you’ve got your child looking like some male bird squawking and doing a silly dance flapping its wings just to get the female bird to notice them. While that technique may work on bird, it sure makes girls go…HUH??

Being the mom I try to tell him to just be himself, not to get nervous, be confident that he is a great kid with a lot to contribute to a conversation, to which his response is “I’m NOT nervous…geeeeesh MOM” so there again I’m confused. If he isn’t nervous and trying to prove something then what is he? Cute, that’s exactly what he is!

As a child I thought what boys did to get girls attention was annoying, rude and obnoxious. As a mom, I think it’s adorable and fun to watch. I also find myself wishing I knew I had that kind of power when I was a little girl. Oh the fun I would have had with the babbling, wing flapping boys that roamed the playground back in the day!!

Whatever it is, it’s fun to watch, and I take notes to make sure I recall these moments when he and his lovely wife come over for dinner one evening.

What do you think makes a boy’s behavior change when they are around girls?