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Such was the case for a young girl in a Washington store. When construction worker Andy Ross walked to the store's checkout line with dirt all over him after a long day at work, he noticed the young girl's stare.
Knowing that children are curious and often stare at people, Andy paid her no mind. That is, until the mom and her daughter began walking out.
I didn't laugh at him or tell him he is too young to have a girlfriend, and I didn't minimize his feelings. We had a very serious conversation about his girlfriend: what he likes about her, what they talk about at lunch, and what games they play on the playground at recess. I asked questions about her; some he knew the answers to, and some he didn't.
Nearly every day after that for some time, we talked about his girlfriend, and in every conversation, in some way, we talked about consent — what it means, what it looks like, and how I expect him to act.
For instance, he once claimed to have "the world's greatest memory" (a claim he later forgot making). Then there was the time he told a black pastor that he was "the least racist person that you have ever met" (which is quite the claim to make even if you didn't open your presidential campaign by labeling Mexicans as "rapists" and "criminals").
But perhaps the most hyperbolically "WTF" phrase he's ever uttered was about women.
I feel like this relationship puts him in a slightly different light for me. He’s about to learn to trust someone in a new way and to care for her emotionally. She is someone’s little girl, and I want my son to treat her well.
I wasn’t sure how to approach this subject. It’s a tough one to just drop in his lap, but it’s important. When I thought about this, my mind flashed back to when he came home from school in the second grade and told me he learned about drugs and alcohol.
