Do middle school kids still hold hands with

[MineralMan]

their boyfriends and girlfriends? I remember doing that and what a heady feeling that was. Innocent pleasures.

[JaneyVee]

1. Many middle schoolers are way beyond holding hands these days.

Sex Ed is super important as well as access to contraceptives.

ETA: and ironically it's way more common in conservative/red/bible belt states.

[MineralMan]

2. I guess I'm just really old.

[JaneyVee]

4. Enjoy every moment of it. How old are you?

[MineralMan]

6. 68. But I remember being 13 and in the

throes of puberty, working up the courage to hold hands with this cute girl in one of my classes. I finally did. She blushed, but thought it was OK. We "went steady" for almost a week.

I saw her this summer at my 50th reunion, and she asked if I remembered holding hands with her in the 8th grade.We had a nice laugh and a hug.

[JaneyVee]

7. Ah, I remember those cherished moments of innocence.

The butterflies in the stomach, the way time seemed to stand still. 68 is still young if you're healthy. I just read an article that said a child born in the year 2000 has a life expectancy of 120 years old. The coming decades will bring us numerous major medical breakthroughs.

[madaboutharry]

26. Lol!

When I was in 8th grade, two girls had babies. And that was awhile ago.

[riderinthestorm]

3. Agreed 110% (unfortunately as I really wish they'd wait)

Kids are having sex at 12, 13, 14 years - all middle school age ranges.

[Niceguy1]

5. seems to be a problem. nationwide

[pnwmom]

23. There's nothing new about that really -- it's just more open now.

My husband's 8th grade class had four pregnant girls in it, and that was a long time ago.

[seabeyond]

11. the average age for first time sex is 17 for both sexes. they are putting off sex more now,

than in the past. and yes, a lot of hand holding.


Fewer than 2% of adolescents have had sex by the time they reach their 12th birthday. But adolescence is a time of rapid change. Only 16% of teens have had sex by age 15, compared with one-third of those aged 16, nearly half (48%) of those aged 17, 61% of 18-year-olds and 71% of 19-year-olds.[1] There is little difference by gender in the timing of first sex.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/FB-ATSRH.html

[newcriminal]

8. As a mother of a middle school daughter and a freshman daughter

I can tell you that they are not all having sex. Not even a majority of them are at that age. Granted I have wonderful, intelligent children, but we talk openly about sex and the younger ones ( I have three older children as well) say that none of their friends have had sex either.

It is against the rules to hold hands at school now. They usually would wait for a football game to hold hands my son tells me. Of course a lot of his friends are having sex, he is now a freshman in college though.

[cali]

9. didn't happen where I went to school

[penultimate]

16. My middle school tried to prevent the kids from doing that...

and that was during the mid-nineties in the suburbs of Portland, OR. So it wasn't exactly a backassward conservative area and time....

[femmocrat]

10. Not in school. Maybe at dances or other places.

Eighth graders like to hug a lot though.

[seabeyond]

12. yes. and it is precious. all the adults want to say, ... aaaahhhh, lol.

yet we do not want to make them uncomfortable. it is just the bold ones that declare in jr high. and the other kids watch. but starting high school, you see more of it. watch a couple walk across the street just this morning and had a smile on my face. she proudly and chatting with her friends. and he so accommodating. it was... sweet.

[xfundy]

13. I had a crush on a boy in the 7th grade.

Would never have thought of holding hands. He turned out to be straight, though we played around. I was crushed. Until I met a boy in 8th grade. But we never held hands, just kept everything a big secret. Then he "grew out of it," as I was expected to do. Didn't happen.

Never came out in high school or even college, except to a trusted few. Some rejected me, some rejected then asked for "favors" after they'd rejected me. They were rejected. Again and again.

[RedCappedBandit]

14. I just started as a social work intern at an inner city middle school

we threw a dance today


yeah, they still hold hands


cute, really, when they're given a chance to act like kids

[MineralMan]

15. Thanks. That gives me hope.

I'm glad to hear they're still holding hands.

[Demo_Chris]

17. They might still hold hands, but if you see 'innocence"...

You are mistaken. Thy know more at ten than we knew at 25. The one thing that has NOT changed is children's amazing skill at pretending to an innocence that does not exist. We were masters of it as well.

[msanthrope]

18. This post is unsettling to me. nt

[seabeyond]

20. you would be wrong. if anything, the over the top sexuality 24/7 is turning kids off, not on.

they are waiting longer and from what i see and hear, they younger generation is looking at things differently. it will be interesting to see how it all flushes out.

but, you are wrong. look up facts.

[Demo_Chris]

24. Why would you assume a decision to wait requires ignorance?

I assume the opposite, which is why I support education.

In any case, if you believe young people today -- in the internet age -- are ignorant about ANYTHING that attracts their curiosity, including sex, you are almost certainly kidding yourself. And yes, I believe that de-mystifying this stuff is healthy.

[MineralMan]

22. I can't share your cynicism about this.

Sorry.

[Demo_Chris]

25. I don't see it as cynicism at all...

Cynicism assumes a negative that doesn't exist. Kids today know all about sex and they are CHOOSING to wait or practice some presumably safe alternative. How is this a bad thing?

[msanthrope]

19. Yes. They do. They also surreptitiously text each other when they think no one

is looking.

[malthaussen]

21. I've wondered if boys still carry girls's books home from school

I'd imagine that since everyone uses backpacks, it would be a rather awkward proposition.

And it's too hard to carry the whole girl home from school.

-- Mal