When do kids normally start to pair up these dates?

[Anonymous]

DD who is in 7th surprised me by saying some of the girls in one activity have "boyfriends." Is this a particularly fast crowd or is this normal? These are not her close friends. Her close friends are not really into boys yet.

[Anonymous]

Normal. I remember pairing up in ES, not dating, because we were not allowed to date, but that so and so would go off together during recess and there were gifts of candy or something small. Heck, there were engagements in my kids preschool, DS still hangs out with his fiance. I think that there is a natural inclination to want to be with someone and what that means changes as kids get older.

[Anonymous]

I had a "BF" in 7th grade.

[Anonymous]

They also have BJs in middle school so make sure she has the information she needs and is fully vaccinated.

[Anonymous]

I was in 7th in 91-92 and it was definitely a year of first “relationships”. So your daughter’s experience sounds right to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD who is in 7th surprised me by saying some of the girls in one activity have "boyfriends." Is this a particularly fast crowd or is this normal? These are not her close friends. Her close friends are not really into boys yet.

“Fast crowd”??? That doesn’t sound judgmental at all.

[Anonymous]

It’s normal.

[Anonymous]

I have an 8th grade boy and I’ve heard his friends and him talk about their girlfriends for the past two years. Sometimes it’s awkward texts back and forth like Hi, or something random thing then saying, sorry- that was meant for someone else. They never went anywhere together. This could be the relationship. Now that schools iback sometimes the girl will text something random question about a class they have together.

I also see kids from his grade at the pool hanging out where they are holding hands or have an arm around the others shoulders. I’m sure there are others that have advanced more.

So there is a wide variety in middle school when it comes to their idea of dating.

[Anonymous]

The interest is normal. What it means varies. My HS grad told me recently that a girl in her circle that professes to be a conservative Catholic lost her virginity in 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

It’s normal, common, and doesn’t mean anything that looks to you or me like dating is happening. My DS had a “girlfriend“ for the first few weeks of sixth grade which only meant there was a girl he was texting a little bit, they didn’t actually talk to each other in school and certainly never had dates. That ended quickly of course and there hasn’t been anything else in his life that I know of he’s now entering his freshman year of high school. But many of his friends have had these brief little experiences of being paired up with someone which mostly seems to mean your friends calling acknowledging that two kids “ like” each other for a bit.

[Anonymous]

Probably a fast crowd

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Probably a fast crowd

It is totally normal. I think it is unfair to call 7th graders who are interested in dating a ''fast crowd". Everyone matures at different rates but 7th grade is a totally typical age group. My dd is in 7th and last year there wasn't much talk about dating (virtual schooling probably had a lot to do with this!) but now she says lots of kids talk about liking someone...

[Anonymous]

I too think it’s very rude that you call these girls fast. First off, you don’t know what it means to have a “bf.” For some, it’s just calling and talking to another person. Big deal. Yes, For some it’s sex. I also think that you shouldn’t be so naive. You do not truly know what your child’s friends are into. Anyways, to answer your question, yes. It is normal.

[Anonymous]

Why do people keep answering based on their experience from 30-40 years ago? It’s later now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people keep answering based on their experience from 30-40 years ago? It’s later now.

Because it hasn't changed since then.