Took a little weekend trip with my DS and his new friend. Both boys are 8 but his friend “Cameron” (not his real name) just seems much more mature than my son and the type of kid who would do fine away from his mommy if you took him with you on your family vacation. Cameron’s mom had been taking him to ballet class before the COVID virus. We have a young nanny and she came on the trip too and she was very impressed right away by Cameron and his poise.
The four of us shared a nice motel room and when it was time to change for bed, DS was nervous about getting undressed in front of another boy. He went into the bathroom to change into his pjs and when he came out, he saw that Cam had already stripped down to white t-shirt and a pair of black briefs. Cameron was also holding up the board game Life and offered to play it with DS. The boys seemed to be enjoying playing Life very much but DS kept giggling at the briefs and finally demanded to know, “Why do you wear black underwear?” Cameron was cool about it and just blurted out, “I wear black underpants when I do ballet.” My son laughed and Cameron started to cry.
The nanny pulled him up on her bed and pulled the sheet over so that his black briefs were no longer on display. She told DS that ballet is not girly but a great sport for boys and something Cameron obviously enjoys. She made Cameron feel much less embarrassed and promised, “You’ll have a great time at the park tomorrow.” We did and DS never teased him about ballet… we are thinking about taking Cameron with us when we go to Disneyland. Maybe things will be better next time… but this is a plane trip and a much bigger deal than a night in a motel. Do you think either boy would do well in a trip like this?