My eldest son is quite an extraordinary young man. Ever since he was a baby he’s always seemed to have some kind of sway with the ladies. He would stare at them, kind of like the way a man stares at a woman he wants. I was often thrown off by this, especially when the women would respond to him. They would say things like; “I couldn’t get past the way he was staring at me”. They were flattered by it.
As time went on he became more transparent. If anyone brought a girl over to the house, my son would take off his shirt and proceed to demonstrate how manly he is by doing pushups. Once again, the girl/woman would be taken by his charms and completely flattered by his attempts to impress them.
He is in second grade now, and his school year is going very different than I expected. When I ask him about his day, he tells me about some little girl that he wants to be his girlfriend. At first I thought it was cute. When I was a schoolgirl there weren’t any boys who fancied me. My son even took the time to write a young lady a note. It went something like this: “Do you love me? I bet you do. If you love me, we can be together”. How sweet.
My son the Casanova; hasn’t had a lot of luck in the love department. Despite his good looks, boyish charms, and never ending stream of love letters his pursuits don’t always fan out. There was one girl that we had to buy a ring (pop) for, and another that we bought a box of chocolate cherries with a freshly picked flower. Even after his great efforts, the girls got away.
I don’t know how long the life span of a 2nd grade crush is supposed to be. I just know that the girls briefly allow themselves to be spoiled by my son, and then, (as he puts it) dump him. Each and every time it happens my son is destroyed and we have to spend a great deal of time building his spirit back up.
Crushes come and go; this is a part of life. I always tell him that there will be plenty more girls. I do find it somewhat alarming at how serious he is about love and relationships at such a young age. My fear is that he is trying to fill some void by seeking the approval of a woman. The pain from rejection is enough to send anyone over the edge.
I pray that my family and I will be able to teach him to have enough self love so that nothing will be able to knock him off his center. My heart hurts for him. I just hope that I can reach him before he has a lifetime of grief, like me.
Did you know that if you do not love yourself, you are not able to receive or believe in God’s unconditional love? People spend their lives trying to connect with others just so they know the feeling of love. It all starts from within.
My son is young yet, and still has a ways to go in the school of hard knocks. I think he will be alright. God is watching and guiding over him every day. His situation just brought a powerful lesson to my heart that I wanted to share with you.
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