In Which I Ponder the Prospect of Teenagerhood

Grayson has a new hobby. Sort of. He has attached himself to a group of adolescents and pre-adolescents who haunt the open area just under our apartment balcony. He's a hanger-on, a wannabe. He goes out every time he hears them outside, and he just hangs out. So far they pretty much just tolerate him. They range in age from about 12 (I'm guessing) to maybe 15. Mostly boys. One precocious pre-adolescent girl whom I'm pretty sure Grayson has a crush on. Grayson calls them, collectively, "The Teenagers." They are his new favorite people.

He's learning all kinds of valuable stuff from them, not all of it I am comfortable with. First, he came in and said "I know what teenagers do for fun."

"What?" I asked, somewhat apprehensively...

"They text."

The requests for a cell phone of his own began soon after. No, No, and No.

Then last week he popped in and asked me "Mom, what's sperm?"

Erp. Well, honey.....

And later that evening he told me that the girl was running around shouting (albeit gleefully) that the boys were "sexually harrassing" her. Yes, it's an education indeed.

I am not quite sure how to proceed here. There's not really any good reason to stop him from hanging around them, so far, at least. But I'm a bit concerned about what else is being said or done that I'm not witnessing or hearing about. Most of their interactions take place right under the balcony, so I get a sense of it. And G really is just hanging around the periphery. He's not really part of the group. But he's all eyes and ears, that's for sure: just soaking it all up.

Right now he is still so wide-eyed and innocent, open and loving and completely transparent. I dread the day when the Wall of adolescence descends upon him and he begins to be reticent, withdrawn, secretive... absorbed in that self-absorbed private world of teens. Makes me want to snatch him up and snuggle him while he'll still tolerate it. What will I do the first time he turns away or shrugs me off? Sigh. I have to remind myself that every new and wonderful stage of his development involves some loss as well as new gains. And of course I want him to grow up, mature, become his own person. I'm eager to see what he turns into. Just not yet. Not yet.