“No one is too young to talk about relationships” is a favorite mantra of mine. But the truth is, I haven’t exactly been practicing what I preach. My kids are 7 and 4 already, and I haven’t made relationship-talk a regular part of dinner conversation. So when the opportunity presented itself the other day, I jumped on it.
My 7-year-old daughter was listening to the radio when (shockingly) a Taylor Swift song came on.
“All of her songs are about the same thing,” my daughter observed.
Yeah, what’s that?
You know, like boys and girls and stuff.
You’re right, her songs are all like that. Do know what having a boyfriend or girlfriend means?
Yeah.
What?
Like when you like one person a lot and kind of spend time with one person more. And say they’re your boyfriend.
Do people talk about that sort of thing at school?
Stop asking me so many questions!
Ok.
I know what an ex-boyfriend is too. When someone was your boyfriend and now they’re not.
Exactly. How do you know so much?
From Anna (summer camp counselor). She has a boyfriend and an ex- boyfriend. How do you get someone to be your ex-boyfriend?
That’s a great question! Usually you find a time to go and talk with them. Sometimes it helps if you think about what you want to say ahead of time. And then you tell them that you don’t want them as a boyfriend anymore.
Oh, ok. Can I have a snack?
Now, do I think this little chat is going to protect my daughter from ever being in an abusive relationship? Of course not. But I’m glad we took the first step towards making talking about relationships a habit.
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