these days, kids mature so much faster than older generations. already at the ages of only 7 and 9, the little devils in our house are talking about things like "privacy", what it means to be "fashionable", and of course, that one topic that parents dodge as soon as the word is muttered into open space, "love"--- actually what they mean is "sex".
my son Alex had to write one story every day over the course of 29 days, and at the end of the due date turn in his collection of, what the teacher was probably hoping for, imaginative stories of monsters and ghouls, magic and wonder, of knights in shining armor and princesses imprisoned in castles waiting to be rescued. last night, when my son finished his collection of "imaginative stories", he gave me his notebook to look over. save for a few detective stories, most of them were realistically mundane and uneventful, e.g. a kid arguing elementary politics with his classmate who no longer wants to be his friend. and then, i saw the page about "sex" defined by his friend "sheron" as "one boy sex one girl that's what they do". his dad was sitting right across the living room, probably playing bejeweled on facebook, and i thought in a split second that if he found out what his son was writing, poor little Alex would be in some big trouble. instead, i simply said, "you better redo this story. you are going to get into trouble by your teacher and your principle if you turn this is as is." mind you, he's only in second grade.
i'm not quite sure how comfortable i feel with the speed of maturity in my kids. already, my 7 year-old daughter is talking about who likes who in her class, who doesn't like who, and who likes who whom doesn't like the other one back. i also remember a couple years ago when she was still 5 telling me she had a boyfriend named Charlie (who was actually a rugged but lookin' fella with polite manners).
i'm trying to think back to when my first crush was, and i think it might have been around 3rd grade. thinking back, it's still a bit of embarassment. in fact, i still remember his name: Aaron S. he was one of brightest individuals in our class, and excelled in every subject, particularly math. so as an attempt to show him my interest, i had written out all my timetables--yes, from the 2's to the 9's--and asked him if he would be willing to double check my work. i had forgotten to write the x's and ='s in between the digits, and after one disinterested glance, he just pushed it away saying, "i can't understand what these mean" and turned his attention back to his friends. sadly, i retreated back to my desk. i was no looker, but neither was i a dummy. guys did not become interested in the opposite sex until at least middle school. but then again, girls do mature faster than guys.
and of course there are some things that don't change, no matter the generation gap. there are still the formation of cliques with the inclusion of the so-called "cool kids", outcasting and marginalizing the "dorks" and the "nerds"--the different. if you wanted to be a cool kid and to be popular, you better act and dress the same way, as well as play with the same toys. nowadays, the "in" objects to possess if you want to be anybody are these things called "silly bands". basically, silly bands are just like rubber bands, but when you lay them out on a flat surface they take the shape of some animal or object. about 3 weeks ago Angela brought one home.
"look mummy! these are silly bands. everyone has them in school and they all wear them on their wrists like this. [she demonstrated.] can i go get one? Estella says that you can get them at the mall. can we go to the mall? i wanna get some, too!" i looked the little neon pink colored rubber band in the shape of a high heeled shoe, and asked her,
"are you sure everyone in school has them?" Alex responded for her,
"yeah, everyone has them. i see them all over the place; in the lunchroom, at p.e., during recess.... i don't know what the big deal is, but really everyone has them."
so i began a lookout for these "silly bands" and much to my surprise they were not cheap. for a package of 24, it cost $4.25 at one place, and $3.75 at another. we finally found a pack for $1.75, and after discussing with her dad, went back a few days later only to find out that they had already sold out and were ordering a new shipment. i guess everyone had them in school. in fact, from the snippets of conversations around our kids' elementary, these good for nothing silly bands have even cause some problems in school. according to the recess patrol, one kid would ask another kid to see a silly band, and refuse to give it back. arguments would then break out, and the teachers would have to take the bands away from them. this had also happened to Angela on the very first day she wore them to school. in the end, we told her not to bring them to school anymore. she obediently obliged.
now, the silly bands are sitting on the coffee table, really being good for nothing.
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