At what age did your ds become...er...aware

[Jayne J]

of the opposite sex? My ds 6 is extremely amorous as of late. He is constantly finding a new "girlfriend" and writing love notes to a poor girl in our church (she is ten and hugely embarassed, although kind about the whole thing. I try to intercept the notes, but miss some.) By itself, that wouldn't bother me. But recently he's taken to drawing nude pictures of women. He is an artist by nature and draws all the time. We are fairly casual about nudity/privacy/closing doors in the house, and he has 2 younger sisters (one still nursing) so the female body is no mystery to him. But it seems so young for THAT talk. I mean, "our changing bodies and crushes on girls" is one thing, but full on nude art? Am I just unwilling to admit my boy is growing up, or is this all a bit early??:confused::glare:

[Pretty in Pink]

My ds told me about his first crush when he was 9. He had his first "girlfriend" at 10.

[Satori]

I don't have any advice, but I vividly remember in kindergarten being chased around by Josh, a little 5 year old boy who kept chasing me and trying to kiss me! He's the only name I remember (except my 3 best girl friends) out of that class so long ago.

 

Does seem kinda young for the nude art thing though!

[Jayne J]

Yeah, I remember having my first crushes and such in K as well, and the boys who all ran around trying to kiss the girls. But it seemed so much more innocent then...maybe it is just because I am his mom that it seems odd. If he just wasn't drawing those pictures I'd be fine.

 

Come on people, tell me my son is normal!!:lol:

[Jayne J]

Oh, BTW Pretty In Pink, the girls don't know they are his girlfriend--its not a mutual thing. I think that is his way of saying he has a crush on a girl or thinks she is pretty or whatever. I definately draw the line at dating!!:D

[akmommy]

I think you have a little boy who is fascinated with the female form and if he is artistic that is surely going to come out in his art. From what you describe he has never been given the impression that it''s bad or yucky (this is a good thing IMO). As long as the drawings aren't depicting anything s*xual I think it is just an innocent fascination.

I would find a way to gently caution him that there is time and place for everything and that many people will look at his drawings and get the wrong idea.

[Guest janainaz]

My ds4.5 came out of the womb that way. When he was a year old he would turn his head to the side and go in for the kiss - to my SISTER! He talks in his sleep and about a month ago I heard him say, "You look gorgeous!" - have no clue who he was talking to/about. He'll wake up and ask me if we can invite iCarly to the park - this was straight out of a dead sleep. He wanted to know if she was "of this world" and when I asked him if he had a dream about her, he grew a really impish grin on his face. He'll do stunts on the playground equipment when he sees a cute girl and call attention to it by saying, "HOW did I DO that?" My dh, ds9 and I just sit back, laugh and shake our heads.

 

The other day I walked in his room while he was watching Nickelodeon, there was a commercial on of little girls in their school clothes, dancing around, and he yelled, "Stop it Mom! I'm not really watching this! This isn't really on! Stop it!" I had not said a word, I just walked in the room, so obviously he was loving the commercial. He is so cute, I can picture him as a teen and I think he's going to have all the girls chasing after him - I don't know what I'm going to do with him. :001_smile:

[Jayne J]

Thanks for your responses. I feel a bit better. But, sigh...I am not ready for this...He's my little boy.

[elegantlion]

My ds is 11 and hasn't seem to notice yet. However I got in trouble for kissing a boy in kindergarten. He was cute and he asked me to. Of course my mother has never let me live that one down.

[abbeyej]

Any chance there are any other "symptoms" of late? The one time ds was like that, it was related to his PANDAS episode (sudden onset of severe OCD related to undiagnosed/untreated strep infection).

 

I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons why a child might be like that, but I thought I'd throw it out there, just in case anything else weird had been going on lately. It's been 3.5 years now since we went through the whole PANDAS thing, and ds hasn't shown any interest in girls, or female bodies, etc, except during that brief period. He was six then.

[kalanamak]

18 months, including some gropes in the toddler pool.

 

In a stroller he once watches a low cut dress bubble by, turned to watch her recede, and then shouted "wiggle, wiggle" after her. Ugh.

 

At 3 I watched him chat closely with a girl while reaching back with a foot to kick any nearby male.

 

I know I'm in for it in about 7 years....:(

[Jayne J]

Any chance there are any other "symptoms" of late? The one time ds was like that, it was related to his PANDAS episode (sudden onset of severe OCD related to undiagnosed/untreated strep infection).

 

I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons why a child might be like that, but I thought I'd throw it out there, just in case anything else weird had been going on lately. It's been 3.5 years now since we went through the whole PANDAS thing, and ds hasn't shown any interest in girls, or female bodies, etc, except during that brief period. He was six then.

 

 

Abbeyej--can you tell me more? I've never heard of PANDAS. I can't think of any OCD type problems with ds lately, but may be stereotyping, as I don't know much about OCD. We have had temper tantrums, but thought it was related to changes in our family (he has always had the "artist's temperament" to go with the art, so we kind of got used to it and assumed he was reacting to a new sibling, who is now 1yo, so it is not a recent change.) Thanks!

[FlockOfSillies]

Preschool.

[Audrey]

My ds just turned 10 and says he's wondering who would be a good girlfriend. However, at 6 he did say he was going to marry a little girl who is his friend. She's a couple of years older. He seems to like a mature girl. :)

[5KidzRUs]

I am an artist and I can remember back when I was 4 years old and asking my mom to REDO the swan she drew for me because I knew it was not her best work. So I get him loving to draw. Although, I would casually ask him something like "Sweetheart - I was admiring your artwork - what was your inspiration for this piece?" Or ask it in language that you use with him in such a way that admires the work and gets out if him what inspired him to draw THAT picture.

Of my five children, I have one that has never had modesty - in a very naive and sweet way though. His attitude is basically, this is what God gave him and there is nothing to be embarrassed about. I think he would love living in a nudist colony. My other children think nothing like him. One time, he fell in love with this girl - notes and everything. I explained to him that in our family we do not 'date' but she can be his friend. He stood stoic in front of me and said defiantly "Mom, you can not stop love!!" I love that he feels and loves everything with all his heart and he is so honest with everything he feels.

He is quite the artist too - like your son.

Anyway, check what his resources are for the naked lady pictures and maybe incorporate an art lesson into it - like going to a museum.

Fun - fun!

[DawnL]

Well, my son will be 6 in November, and he loves boobs. He also likes to see advertisements of scantily clad females. It's obvious he doesn't know what to "do" with these opinions, but it doesn't change the fact that he just loves girls. He was in preschool for awhile, and he "loved" a girl there. He makes a big production about how he will never be over his love. LOL It's so cute. Although I certainly could do without the ogling of all these scantily clad advertisments that we can't seem to get away from.

[DawnM]

Us too....my 11 year old is quite oblivious for the most part. My younger boys seem more aware than he is!

 

Dawn

 

My ds is 11 and hasn't seem to notice yet. However I got in trouble for kissing a boy in kindergarten. He was cute and he asked me to. Of course my mother has never let me live that one down.

[hillfarm]

When he was in kindergarten, my little brother declared his undying love for one of the little girls. When our parents asked him to describe her, he knew that numbers had something to do with how attractive a female was, so he said she was "36, 36, 36 and three feet tall"!:lol:

 

We could just picture this little barrel of a girl who had captured his imagination. I think he always had "girlfriends" but I think it was more due to the social pressures to have one rather than any innate sexual interest.

[Tree House Academy]

My son made a BIG leap from thinking girls were kinda cute at the age of 9 to really wanting to see what it was like to KISS one by the age of 10. UGh!

 

A funny moment, though...we were at the movie theatre seeing HP6 and both of my sons needed to go to the bathroom. I went out with them in the hall to the bathroom. As we were walking, there was a poster up on the wall for some movie - and the poster featured some scantily clad woman in boots. My 5 year old and I were chatting about HP as we walked and then suddenly I looked over just in time to see ds10 literally fall flat in the floor. His head was still turned toward the movie poster. Apparently he couldn't stop rubbernecking long enough to actually watch where he was going. Still, as he was climbing back out of the floor, he was staring at the poster.:glare:

Edited August 26, 2009 by Tree House Academy

[jujsky]

My DS just turned 6, and loves women. He always has, and he is very serious about marrying the 11 year-old daughter of DD's dance teacher :D

 

He was very insistent for months with the "how are babies made" question, so I finally explained the mechanics of it in very basic detail. He was very mature about it. I also explained to him that he was obviously ready to know about this because he asked me several times, but that most kids his age (including his sister) haven't asked, so they're not ready to know. I told him if it somehow comes up with his sister or their friends that the big-boy thing to do would be to tell them to ask their parents about it. I made it clear that until they ask their parents, they are not ready to know, and that no matter what, it's the parent's job to tell their own children.

 

So no, I don't think there's anything wrong with your son. FWIW, I think I got in trouble with my mom for drawing naked people when I was about 6. I did it out of curiosity and to see what sort of a reaction I would get from my mother.

[Jayne J]

Phew. Thank all of you who shared your son's...interests. It makes me feel much better. His precocity in this particular area kind of threw me for a loop. Why, oh why is he precocious in THAT area, instead of cleaning, hitting the inside of the toilet, or folding laundry...:tongue_smilie:

 

OK. Don't answer that question.

[Impish]

My son is a huge flirt, always has been from the start. Recently, he's told me that I have to get divorced when he's bigger cause he wants to marry me! :lol:

[dragons in the flower bed]

My son is six and telling us that he loves a little girl he's played with for a couple of years now. Long before he started saying that he loves her, he was tormenting her. We finally nipped that effectively, but now the declarations of love come. The girl herself (who is a bit younger) is engaged to another little boy, and I understand this agreement has been on for some time. This leads me to believe it's all pretty normal.

[Jayne J]

Thank goodness you have a son. Just think of all the weddings you'd have to pay for at this rate!;)

 

My ds likes them older--8 or 9 is his target age. :tongue_smilie:

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Add my son to the ranks of 6 year old Casanovas! He has a mental list of all his girlfriends and when he sees a pretty girl, he tells me he's adding her to the list. I would not be at all surprised if he started drawing nude pictures, except that he doesn't lilke "art" very much. And both he and my 5 year old son are obssessed with boobs, and constantly want to see them and touch them. It's a challenge.

[AndyJoy]

Add my son to the ranks of 6 year old Casanovas! He has a mental list of all his girlfriends and when he sees a pretty girl, he tells me he's adding her to the list. I would not be at all surprised if he started drawing nude pictures, except that he doesn't lilke "art" very much. And both he and my 5 year old son are obssessed with boobs, and constantly want to see them and touch them. It's a challenge.

 

When I was 17 I babysat a 6-year-old boy and his 11 & 13 year old sisters. He was sitting next to me on the couch watching a movie, then suddenly reached over and squeezed my breast! I was surprised & a bit embarrassed, but didn't react. Neither of us said a word and he never did it again. I figured he was just curious. I didn't say anything to his parents (can you imagine how awkward that would have been?), but I figured they'd find out soon enough if it was more than just normal curiosity.

[Reya]

TWO. Yes, TWO.