It has already started with my 5 year old – “Mommy don’t kiss me.”
Excuse me?!?
Of course I insisted and forced a kiss on his cheek. But really?!? At five years old, he’s already starting to get embarrassed by mom planting a big one on his sweet little face in public?
At least I’m not squishing his cheeks or pinching his bum like I’m sure I will when I’m a grandma. It’s just a little kiss on his nose or forehead or a peck on the lips or a sneaky slurp on the cheek!
Even this morning, my seven year old made sure that I kissed him far away from the school…
“Don’t kiss me in public,” he said.
“Pardon me?!” I replied. “Are you embarrassed?”
He nodded.
“I’m your mom. I’m allowed to kiss you!”
“OK,” he responded. I grabbed his little face and planted one on his cheek.
Sigh.
My boys are growing too fast.
Soon enough, they’ll squeal and run away when I try to even hug them. Then they won’t want to hold hands with me anymore either. They won’t let me kiss them in front of their friends at school… won’t want me to even take them to school anymore.
They’ll be asking me to drop them off a distance away from the mall or movies so their friends don’t see that their ‘uncool’ mom is escorting them… even though I AM cool but they’ll never really acknowledge that when they’re teenagers.
Soon enough, they’ll stop saying,
“When I grow up I want to be a Dad and you can be my wife.” (My five year old said that recently.)
or
“When I’m grown up I’m going to marry you and live with you forever.” (My seven year old declared this to me not long ago.)
*Tear*
How do you deal with accepting that your kids are growing up?
3 Comments
Aww… I remember the ‘not near the school’ thing most of all! Don’t worry – it comes back! My DS never greets me or leaves w/o big hugs & kisses!!
Thankfully we’re not t that stage yet, but just the mere thought f it makes me sad. You never know, they may come back to being affectionate boys – my 15 year old cousin always gives me a kiss and a hug. You are very cool and soon enough they will realize that. 🙂
Also still not in that phase despite an almost 9 year old boy. He still loves a cuddle and a kiss. My girls actually count the hugs they get in a day and I sometimes here “Mom, I only had 3 huggies today”… I get good lip kisses from the girls (usually so they can steal some lipstick in the process!). So I am not at all ready for the next phase and can’t quite believe it will ever change (though I know it will…).