12yr old ds and girlfriends

[Tess37]

Hi all

Would appreciate some advice on this one. My 12yo ds started high school this year and the issue of girlfriends has arisen for the first time.

There seems to be a core group of 'cool' kids in his class who have a constant stream of girlfriends and boyfriends and it's clear from seeing posting on msn and facebook etc., that they're not always that respectful to each other, esp. when the inevitable split happens. Up till now tho' ds has not seemed at all interested in getting involved in any of this or in having a girlfriend, as he's more interested in Football and rugby!

However, about a month ago he started getting msn messages from girls in his class trying to persuade him to go out with a particular girl and if anything he seemed a bit panicky about it, saying they couldn't 'make him' go out with her!! At the start of the school holidays two weeks ago, he had a text from the girl asking if she still fancied him. He didn't reply to this text and got quite irritated with me when i told him that he should. Last night, he had a missed call to his mobile, which he said was her again. I've tried to talk to him about the situation and explain that if he's not interested he should text her back and say, rather than just ignoring her, but whenever I broach the subject he just gets really irritated with me and becomes upset.

He's always been quite a sensitive boy and although really mature in many ways, is emotionally still quite young compared to some of his friends. He's obviously given this girl his phone number, which suggests he likes her - I wonder if he just feels out of his depth and anxious and have tried to reassure him that we're here to talk about anything that's concerning him, but again, drawn a blank. Any ideas?? Thanks

[mumonthenet]

gad, no ideas but bumping this for you.