or is it perfectly normal

[kandykane77]

..for boys and girls to play together? DS is in Year 3 (7 years old) and has friends at school of both genders. He has a female friend who has been coming over to play since they were 4, she came to play again today, they had a nice time :)

However DS has mentioned that lots of kids in his class insist she must be his girlfriend because boys and girls don’t play at each other’s houses. Even the girl’s mum cracked a joke when she picked her up about them getting married one day, the kid rolled her eyes and said “urgh no, we’re

What the hell is going on? I’ve had other adults commenting on DS playing with girls, including school staff. So number 1 I just don’t get how it’s weird and number 2 stop sexualising my child’s choice of playmate, he’s 7

AIBU or has the world gone mad??

Yanbu!

YANBU
I hate that my ds 10 months has a little friend who's a girl and we get the "girlfriend" comments. My child isn't even aware that there are boys and girls yet for goodness sake. I want my boy to grow up understanding that you can have a platonic friendship and that women do not only have value as objects of desire.

(Disclaimer; I also hate the "hes going to be a heartbreaker" comments. Why in earth would I want that for my son?!)

“we’re mates” is what the kid said. Sorry, stupid phone.

The world has gone mad, or at least some parts of it. Some people do genuinely believe that boys and girls don't want to play together or shouldn't because it's weird.

I think it's normal, and my DS will play with the girls and boys in his class.

YANBU at all. I strongly dislike talk of boyfriend and girlfriend in young children, it's weird and unnecessary.

meow1989 - OMG at 10 months old that’s even more crazy!!

I remember my stepdad telling me when I was maybe about 12 that I was going to break some hearts one day. I was horrified! Why would I want to break anyone’s heart?! I’ve had the same comment about my son and I always say that I sincerely hope not!

I couldn’t agree more. My 8 year old dd has a very good friend who just happens to be a boy and comes to play most weeks with his big brother who’s in the same year as ds. Mostly they all just play whatever shite on their tablets or have a nerf war but sometimes dd and her friend have a ‘date’ and it’s almost as though they feel they ought to pretend some romantic nonsense to conform when really they’re just little kids who have lots in common and like hanging out with each other.

Yanbu , but I fought the fight you are in and lost by y6. And indeed it was year 3 where her friend and she started to be laughed at for being "in love " and boyfriend and girlfriend etc.

It's ludicrous but the sexes do seem to separate in School sadly.

Reluctant2ndtimer It’s such bollocks isn’t it? They play just the same as when he has a male friend over. DS is actually a bit confused and finds it quite annoying.

reindeermania It’s so sad. Can’t people just be friends?

Perfectly normal at that age. There tends to be a natural gender split about the time they go into juniors, then all of sudden it doesn't matter again around Y8

It's sad, but it's a sentiment often seen here that men and women can't be platonic friends, I guess some people think that starts early

My sons best friend is a girl. Mind you they’re engaged.

Hamburger. Dds best friend throughout primary was a boy. Now she has a big group of friends and it is about 50/50 girls and boys.

Hamburger was ynbu

I have a boy cousin who is the same age as me, we are 32 now but growing up we were very good friends and liked to play together, everyone made fun of us and said we must be in love ect ect in the end we really grew apart because of it! No one seemed to understand that a boy and girl could be friends!

This annoys me but recently my year seven DD and her best friend told me that they get teased and called lesbians, the insinuation is that they're into each other. Neither of them were happy about the teasing. Mine knows everything I could think of, about sexuality, gender, all of it. Because of how she identifies as a person. And because our small family has a whole rainbow of members in it so I'd rather she knew. But being teased like that was hard on them both.