Tweens and Crushes

Now my oldest daughter is in middle school and this is the time when kids start saying they're going out with someone. Of course they're not really going anywhere. They just talk on the phone or should I say text and hang out in school. It seemed like many of the kids in my daughter's class were pairing up last year and if you didn't you weren't one of the popular kids. The girls were especially hard and it made for a difficult year for my daughter.

She really just wanted to fit in and she always had, but suddenly things just sped up and I don't think she was ready. She was on the verge, but not quite there. They had dances at school and she was never asked to dance and that hurt her and me because I hate to see either of my children upset. She's just so shy that it makes things tricky for her with the boys. My husband considers this a good thing. Keep those boys away. Even though she's known them since nursery school things started to change. They used to all play tag in the school yard, but now that's just not cool. Mostly the girls just stand around giggling and talking about boys. The boys just try to be cool. Everyday she would come home miserable and felt that she just didn't fit in anymore. She still had her friends, but they were trying to figure things out as well. This was a really hard year for her. I'm so glad we got through it.

This year things have changed. My daughter seems to be more confident. She doesn't consider herself one of the popular girls, but she doesn't care anymore. They aren't nice and she has no use for them. She has a great group of girls she hangs out with and she's doing well in school.

Now my daughter has a crush on a boy in her class. It's adorable. This boy always goes out of his way to talk to her and get her attention. He is a little bit of a class clown I guess, but I think that's why she likes him so much. He makes her laugh and don't we all need someone who can do that in our life. The problem is she doesn't know if he likes her. It's typical tween drama. All I know is every day she has a new story about something this boy said or did. When she tells me about him there is always a smile on her face and I have to smile to because it is just such a pure feeling. This is the way it should be. Your first real crush should make you feel like you're walking on clouds. I told her that even if he doesn't like her like a girlfriend he is definitely a friend and that's where all good relationships should start. It seems to be making her more confident and that makes me happy. She should be confident. She's a beautiful intelligent little girl. I just hope this crush doesn't crush her. Fingers crossed.