Help me keep my cool as 12yo DS (year 8) embarks on dating. My little baby boy has all grown up and has asked the girl he likes to go out with him for a hot chocolate at a nearby Costa after school one day next week and she's said yes.
I have no idea how to be a good mum to a youngster in this situation. I didn't start dating till I was at university, so I am not familiar with the range of awful mistakes parents make during this time.
No idea to what extent I should back right off and expect him to sink or swim with what he knows already, vs giving helpful tips and advise. He actually has pretty poor social skills and so do I (family trait we are all either diagnosed or borderline ASD) so I am kind of shocked he has made it this far. I am as much terrified of putting my foot in it and word getting around that his mum is totally bonkers as much as anything (I won't be involved in this first date but don't really know what might happen next). But he does have a bit of a tendancy to tell people more than they ever needed to know about minecraft, or ancient norse myths, until their eyes glaze over, and then gets out his phone or a book to look at instead of talking when he has had enough interaction. He has found out that the thing she is most interested in is ponies and so he is researching the topic.