It is Saturday and the youngin’s are sleepin’ after a hard day of playing in the sunshine. We went to a park in Hendersonville for Amanda Button’s Birthday and had a great time hanging out with friends. Owen loved the water and the ducks and throwing sticks into the lake. He loves following the other kids around and so far doesn’t seem too bothered if their games are a little more advanced than he is, he either keeps trying or does something else but I don’t see him getting his feelings hurt if he isn’t included. He gets that from his dad. I’m the sensitive one in the family. Ivan enjoyed all the greetings from all the faces in the crowd and took a nice little nap in the shade just before we all ate lunch.
The Button’s never fail to provide a great feast for their guests. There were burgers, hot dogs, chips, drinks, fruit salad, cake and ice cream. The three picnic tables were packed with food and supplies. Amy’s parents were in from Birmingham and it is always nice to catch up with them. The Fadely’s were there, the Spitters showed up and of course several of Amanda’s friends from school were there. It was a very nice time and you couldn’t have asked for better weather. Tuesday is Amanda’s actual birthday and she will be Sweet 16.
Kris and I were talking about the old saying “sweet 16, never been kissed” on our way to the party. I sort of wonder if there’s anyone out there in today’s society that it still applies to. Does anyone still wait until they’re 16 to date? Do kids wait to kiss until they date? I like the old fashion courtship and if I had a daughter I think I would try to steer her in that direction, but would she be the weird girl at school? Nobody would really need to know that I guess. I mean, it’s not as if you suddenly have a mark on your forehead once you’ve had your first kiss. I guess I don’t have to worry about it since I don’t have a girl. How does that all apply to boys? Is it different? Oh…I need to stop thinking about it, I’m going to start worrying for my poor innocent boys and they aren’t even out of diapers yet.
Well, I’m going to take a look at my “toodu” list and see if there’s anything I feel like accomplishing and what I can get away with leaving until Monday and then I’m going to make quesadillas for dinner and hopefully we’ll get the boys to bed early and read a little bit before we shut down for the night. It’s been a good week.
Even though I don’t really do many things in an old fashioned kind of way, I do not think that sixteen years old is too long to wait before you start dating. Granted, she might come home from school at age thirteen, fourteen or fifteen talking of this boy or that boy, and she might even kiss boys beforehand…but considering the way the world is, and the way that most people are nowadays, its never a bad thing to encourage a young girl to wait until her late teens to go on unsupervised dates with boys. The older, the more mature; the more mature, the more capable to make the right decisions.
I think we need to reinstate the idea of “coming out”. No dating until brought into social life by their parents at a big ball and then introduced to appropriate company. 🙂
Thanks so much for coming, we had a great time of course (we always do). I really wanted the people that helped us raise her there for her big day.
Well, I will tell you that Trav and I have been very strict about boyfriend rules and things like that. We’re not afraid to put the “smack-down” on her if we deem it necessary. But we also try to be very fair- it’s a tightrope I tell ‘ya. I think we would be just as strict if we had boys.
My neighbor has a boy about to go into highschool. She is very strict about dating. He isn’t allowed. And in fact they are the neighborhood hang out. Her rule is that if the other kids are dating and want to be at her house a parent of the “couple” has to come over too! I love it! The down side to all of this is that all of Josh’s friends are dating the girls who came over to hang out with Josh. I guess that is a down side for Josh, not his mom!