Open Letter to The Girl

Dear Girl Who Broke My Son's Heart: He is in 7th grade. SEVENTH grade!! I explained to him last night that this is one of the many reasons why having a "girlfriend" is not necessary in the seventh grade. This is not something that seventh graders should have to deal with. However, he is dealing with it. The best part is that you are also a seventh grader. I was once a seventh grade girl and I'm pretty sure I was just like you. My apologies go out to everyone I knew between the 6th and 12th grades. Really, I am so sorry! Back to you - my son was pretty smitten by you. He even bought you a birthday gift for your birthday which happens to be today. However, in awesome seventh-grader fashion, you sent your friends to "break up" with him yesterday after the wrestling meet at your junior high school. Yeah, seventh graders rock! Oh, but wait - it gets better. Last night while we were eating dinner as a family, you sent one of those said friends to our house to knock on the door and tell him that you wanted him to call you. FYI, we have a landline. It's like an old-fashioned in-home, attached to walls phone. You can call there, well you could call there before this happened. Calling now probably wouldn't be a good idea. Why? Because if I answer, you and I are going to have a chat about seventh grade boundaries and etiquette. In fact, I will put Braxton on ANOTHER in-home, attached to the wall phone (yes, we have more than one. We are ancient!), and he will participate in this conversation with you and I because all seventh graders need to hear that this is just unnecessary. I'm relatively certain you should be worrying about braces, how to apply eye shadow in the most minimal amounts possible, and figuring out which Disney movie is your favorite. It is completely unnecessary for seventh graders to be in relationships. Period. I am throwing in a picture of Braxton because he's pretty dang cute, and because his mama bear is in the picture with him, which is appropriate, considering what we are dealing with here.

Anywho, having friends of both sexes is important, no matter how old you are. Having a "boyfriend" or a "girlfriend" is not important, especially not in junior high school. I know that you think that are mature and responsible. Maybe you are. I know that my son is not. I mean, don't get me wrong, he is a GREAT kid who is caring, funny, kind, compassionate, sensitive, quirky, silly, and just plain awesome. But maturity is not one of his strengths right now. In fact, it might not be for quite.some.time. This is one of the many reasons why "dating" in the seventh grade is ridiculous. How do seventh graders date anyways? You can't go anywhere unless you hop on your scooters. You don't have like a job to pay to go anywhere. Heaven knows my kids don't get an allowance. They do chores and in turn, they are provided with three meals a day! I'm getting off track again. I'm sorry. What you did was mean. But I can't really blame you because you should have never had to "break up" with him in the first place! You are children. Children do not need the responsibility of relationships. It's not necessary!! But, because you were in a "relationship" you were eventually going to break up and you did. But, the way you did it was mean. Again, this is a life lesson that would have been better learned, say 6-7 years from now. However, it happened. Two children broke up in a not nice way and this mama is not happy. My advice to you and my son (who already heard all of this from me last night): A) be a child for crying out loud, B) No relationships until you actually understand fully what that means and what it entails, C) don't send your little friends to break up with your "boyfriend. It's cold. It's immature. It's mean. It's cowardly. Do it your dang self, D) don't call my house. Ever. Most cordially, Mama Bear