![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So, it's developmentally normal for 5-6 year old girls to be flirtatious, right? It's the classic age of the Electra complex, for one thing. Casper has long had an intense interest in older boys - possibly stemming from her earliest days in our nanny-share when she was 9 months old and Alexander was the 4 year old big brother of the other baby. And she's always been a pretty outgoing, not socially inhibited kid, the kind who would sit in the stroller and say hello to passing pedestrians, and will still walk up to adults and say, "Hello!" She loves to chase boys at school, and has certain boys that she thinks are especially interesting (River at after school).
I guess I am a little discomfited partly because of how my mother reacted to an anecdote I related to her while we were all at the beach. We were on a pretty empty beach near a couple of college-age guys who were quietly drinking beers and then went in the water to play frisbee. I had said hello to them when we sat down (it's a small beach and a small town). When they went in the water where the kids were playing Casper said hello and they were genial and good natured and played frisbee with her for a little while. We were sitting at the water's edge and watching. One of the guys was not in a swimsuit, just shorts, and his shorts got droopy and the waistband of his underwear was showing. Casper told him to pull up his pants.
I related this little story to my mother as a "funny things kids say" story, and she freaked out, yelled at me about Casper's safety, brought it up separately and later with mr. flea, and it was pretty much the root cause of our inability to get along while we were there visiting.
Recently while visiting good friend she was also a little flirty with the daddy in the family, and I think was just barely aware of the effect she was having (he was actually a little uncomfortable, possible because she was just out of the bath and shed her towel; we got her dressed pretty swiftly).
What's y'all's take on the normalcy of flirty little girls? Do you think I really need to be concerned about her safety when she is interacting with people in public under my watchful eye (people I have spoken to first, demonstrating it's okay?)
I guess I am a little discomfited partly because of how my mother reacted to an anecdote I related to her while we were all at the beach. We were on a pretty empty beach near a couple of college-age guys who were quietly drinking beers and then went in the water to play frisbee. I had said hello to them when we sat down (it's a small beach and a small town). When they went in the water where the kids were playing Casper said hello and they were genial and good natured and played frisbee with her for a little while. We were sitting at the water's edge and watching. One of the guys was not in a swimsuit, just shorts, and his shorts got droopy and the waistband of his underwear was showing. Casper told him to pull up his pants.
I related this little story to my mother as a "funny things kids say" story, and she freaked out, yelled at me about Casper's safety, brought it up separately and later with mr. flea, and it was pretty much the root cause of our inability to get along while we were there visiting.
Recently while visiting good friend she was also a little flirty with the daddy in the family, and I think was just barely aware of the effect she was having (he was actually a little uncomfortable, possible because she was just out of the bath and shed her towel; we got her dressed pretty swiftly).
What's y'all's take on the normalcy of flirty little girls? Do you think I really need to be concerned about her safety when she is interacting with people in public under my watchful eye (people I have spoken to first, demonstrating it's okay?)
