Tessa's best friend is a little boy who is a grade ahead of her in school. I am very good friends with his mom. In fact, I now consider her one of my best friends. They live in the neighborhood, and we see them every single day.
This friend, who I will call E, is the one who is going camping with Brian and Tessa. Some of my family members, and a few of my friends, have expressed concern about the two of them sleeping in the same tent. I think this is crazy. They are seven and eight, for goodness sakes.
Tessa has spent the night at his house, and he has here, too. They are together just about every single day, but definitely every day after school. They ride the bus home together and play until dark. He calls my mom "Nana." They are actually more like cousins than best friends.
People have expressed concern about this. They said kids know more today than they did years ago, so they shouldn't be having sleepovers together. I think it's a bit sad and maybe even a little sick to give sexual connotations to innocent children's fun.
Maybe I am the crazy one though. Would you let your seven year old have a sleepover with someone of the opposite sex? If they were 12 or 13, I would definitely not allow it, but I don't have any problem with it at this age.
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3 comments:
While I wouldn't for my family, I don't think I would look down on others for allowing it. I think that life in general is more sexualized than it ever was before, which I think leads to curiosity at a much younger age. While I would never expect a 6-9 year old of thinking about having sex when alone in a tent or a bedroom, I would worry about the risk of them being curious and experimenting. BUT, you know these two kids better than anyone, you would know best if they were likely to be curious about one anothers bodies.
I don't think it's a problem at all... and I work with kids in that age group.
I'd think people should evaluate their children on an individual basis, but you're the one who knows your child, as Denise said.
I also think that people who have enough time to worry about how you're raising your children need to get out more.
I'm with you, Mom. Let's not sexualize little kids. I'm glad you're letting them have their innocent friendship.
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