My Wife's Not Handling It Very Well...

...My 12 1/2 year old son has a girlfriend and my wife is freaking out.

Maybe girlfriend is too strong of a word. Hailey, the girl in question, asked my son if he wanted to go out. My wife said, "Out to where??" until it dawned on her what my son was actually telling her. Hailey asked Matt on Sunday but Matt waited until Tuesday to share with his parents what was going on.

He's new at this. Not really sure. My wife, bless her heart, tried to convince him he's too young and they should just be friends. Matt didn't know how to take that. All his friends are "going out" but they revolve through boyfriend/girlfriend faster than I change my underwear. I tried to tell the wife last night that they will probably break up once Kids Unlimited is over. (Kids Unlimited - Dance/Drama production involving about 200+ kids from Redding...go here: Kids Unlimited )

But Matt really wants to experience the whole ball of wax. My wife thinks he's gonna get his feelings hurt....Well DUH! That's what happens and she can't prevent or protect him from all hurts. This is something he's gonna have to figure out on his own. (With a little help from Dad of course!) Matt gave Hailey a yellow rose last night after Opening Night. Hailey was a bit embarrassed as both my wife and I saw him do it as well as her Mom and Dad. He wants to do other romantic type things but really has no clue.

Enter Dad, much to Mom's chagrin. (She thinks Dad's a horn-dog and will pass this on to his son. He tells her that it's inherent in every boy to be something of a horn-dog!) It's going to be up to me to guide the boy along this path. Teach him to be respectful and try to blunt some of the rough edges that we men carry because we are men!

Of course my wife says that I will react different when my daughter wants to have a boyfriend. She said I freaked when, 4 years ago at the age of 6, my daughter wore fingernail polish. At 6, that is a problem. At 10, not so much a problem. Of course I told Heather that all of her dates had to pick her up at the martial arts studio on either Tues. or Thurs. night when I'm there, fully decked out in my black gi, tossing some poor, hapless white belt around. Just so's they understand I can remove their hands should they venture into an area that is out of bounds.

Now where did I put that "8 Rules For Dating My Daughter" by Bruce Cameron???



BTW...I'm 40 today.

Eric