Should a 12 year old boy be playing with girls half his age?

[syscom3]

I'm serious about this. Your thoughts and advice would be appreciated.

I had to ban my daughter from playing with the boy across the street because of the age difference. By "playing"; it isn't just an occasional "play tag" type of thing. I mean he really wants to play with them, dolls and all. There's a bunch of other girls on our block (age 6 to 8), all of a similar age, and he wants to play with them too.

Some accusations were made about him (true or not) and it just doesn't seem right for a boy his age to have anything to do with young girls. He does have a younger brother that's age five and I have no problem with him playing with my daughter, due to a similar age. But to me, since he's hitting puberty, the opportunity for him to do or say something inappropriate is there. I've told him already that typical boy stuff we all engaged in at that age is OK if he's with other boys. But not around girls. And he didnt get the message and now bad things are being said.

Let me know what you guys think. Am I wrong about it? Should he be only be playing with boys his own age?

 

[vikingBerserker]

Ok, unless he is mentally 6, I'm with you on this one - it makes no sense. If there were no kids around his age I could possibly understand, but all in all I'd say it's a bit odd. It could very well be innocent but as a father of a 7 year old girl myself, "Oh hell no!"

 

[B-17engineer]

Not that the opinion of a kid matters but...

When I was 12, 6 year old girls were (to me at that age!!) annoying. There's got to be something 'different' about him if he wants to play with dolls and 6 year old girls...

Reminds me of this.....


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFFJhO90VN8

 

[Njaco]

NO! unless its a supervised play-date but......this feels wrong to me.

 

[Freebird]

What do you know about his parents?

 

[evangilder]

I think this has creepy written all over it. Being the father of a 5 year old girl, I wouldn't be comfortable with that AT ALL.

 

[Marcel]

Don't get too paranoid at this stage. Did you talk to the parents? You could get a sense of what's going on by them, they know their child best. If they're sloppy parents, then I would start to worry. Otherwise just keep your eyes open.
That he should play with boys of his own age like we did is a little short sighted imo. Everyone is different, so he might be a future trans-sexual for all you know. As long as no harm comes from it of course.

 

[GrauGeist]

I remember when I was in my early teens, my sister (7 years younger) and all her friends would drive me up the wall...

Come to think of it, they still do...

 

[Torch]

Meh, you need to know the parents, as a kid my parents best friends had girls,don't remember the exact age but I used to play with them, I had 2 GI Joe dolls that would kick Ken's a## all the time. Got to watch it thou, 1 friend was a year older and she was ahhh developing fast and it's amazing that at that young age I was thinking "Nice"

 

[Wayne Little]

Maybe nothing at all.......but, better to go with your gut feelings on this and play it safe.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I say as a parent you should go with your gut feelings. This very well could be innocent, but you never know. Trust your feelings and talk to the parents.

 

[ToughOmbre]

Err on the side of caution sys. Better to be a little over-protective, especially with girls.

You're not wrong, you're being a good parent.

TO

 

[syscom3]

The boys parents are fine. Even the boy is OK. There's no boys on the block for him to play with so I think he gets lonely enough to want to go play with anyone. But that isn't my problem, even though I empathize with him. His parents should be "requiring" him to find friends his age from school or his boy scout troop and stop having him play with the girls every single day.

I think its still inappropriate for a boy just entering puberty to be playing with younger girls. Just the fact that allegations were made means he is in the proverbial cross hairs in which he will have to prove his innocence. I don't think his parents understand that.

 

[Matt308]

It has wrong written all over it. Assuming nothing evil happens, I feel sorry for that young man. He's gonna be one messed up dude when he is older.

 

[B-17engineer]

It has wrong written all over it. Assuming nothing evil happens, I feel sorry for that young man. He's gonna be one messed up dude when he is older.

^What I was thinking... again I stand by the link I posted earlier.

 

[bobbysocks]

i am with eric....a little creepy for me. i would rather make the mistake and forbid an innocent act rather than have to deal with the aftermath of a traumatic event for my daughter. her welfare is my interest not his feelings.

 

[vikingBerserker]

You would think his parents would want to look out for his well being as well. They need to get him involved with something so he can play with kids his own age.