The Puddles

“There’s a boy named Jack and I want to kiss him,” declares Ainsley.

“WHAT?  You want to do WHAT?” questions Mom.

“I like a boy named Jack.  He’s cute. I’m going to marry him, so I am going to kiss him.”

“Did you kiss him today?”

“No, but I did kiss him.”

“WHAT?”

. . . much much later at the dinner table.

“Ainsley, you are not allowed to kiss boys,” states Dad.

Tears. Crying. Her head is in her hands.  She is devastated.

The poor thing didn’t understand anything about boys and kissing.  She thought she was just showing that she cared for someone.  She and another little girl were running around at recess trying to kiss boys that they liked.  I talked to her about how special kissing was and that kissing is a gift that girls give to boys.  And we only give that gift to boys that we love and know that we want to marry.  She said she knew that wanted to marry Jack, but I told her that since she wasn’t allowed to marry until she was 30 that she couldn’t really know at 6 if she would want to marry Jack in 24 years.  We all decided that she could still chase boys but that she could only high-five them in the end.  No hugging and certainly no kissing.