DS has just turned 12 and last week told me he had a girlfriend. At the time, all they seemed to do was talk at school and msn in the evenings - all fairly innocent. Anyway, this week he asked if he could go to the shops after school with his mates and his girlfriend. I said yes as we live only five minutes away from the shopping centre, on the condition he came home from school first to change, took his mobile and was home by quarter past six. He was home at 6:15 on the dot, with his gf who was getting a lift home from our house. As they siad goodbye, they snogged - proper snog, lasting for a while. I am totally thrown by this and can't figure out whether its just because i naively still think of him as my little boy or whether because he is too young at twelve to be doing this and worried about where it might lead. I am quite aware of what goes on and have always thought I would be quite cool about girlfriends etc - I have talked to DS extensively about the birds and the bees and he comes to me with any problems/questions etc - ironically I work in sexual health, predominantly with young people, but have probably thought that 'my kids wouldn't be like that!!!' So is this too much at that age or is it normal?