9-year-old boy gives you advice on relationships
Posted at 4:10 PM Dec 02, 2008
By Andrea Grimes
Know my bias up front: I would have to think long, long and hard, hard to come up with anything a 9-year-old human has ever done or could ever do that I would classify as "cute." But a Colorado elementary schooler named Alec Greven has really set back his age group with the publication of his new book. So maybe this is a little bit about book deal jealousy, considering the kid's got a couple of decades on me. And it's a lot about creepy.
The book, How To Talk To Girls, features advice from Alec for his fellow classmates who are already prepping for getting into the pants. He tells the NY Post:
"Pretty girls are like cars that need a lot of oil." He advises, "The best choice for most boys is a regular girl. Remember, some pretty girls are coldhearted when it comes to boys. Don't let them get to you."
While I might be able to appreciate his egalitarian outlook in theory, the simple fact remains: we're encouraging 9-year-old boys to evaluate 9-year-old girls on sexual attractiveness!!!!! I don't even have enough exclamation points for this. And if you're not totally skeeved out, consider the photo that ran with the article. It features Alec drinking faux cocktails with two grown women. Can you even imagine that same photo posed with a little girl and two grown men?! Cripes almighty. I have never read a story quite so chock full of bizarre, inappropriate gender and sexual issues.
Comments
This is weird! Not that 9-y-o boys are not evaluating attractiveness of the girls around, of course they do. But I don't get the idea of the book. Why all of a sudden, some kid is qualified to share the knowledge about sex, love and relationships? Is he somehow enlightened, or there is some hidden and forgotten truth that adults forgot but every child knows, or there is somebody who exploits that kid for a new buzz-book, or this civilization has really gone completely nuts?
I don't even want to start about that photo.
Posted 12/02/2008 at 05:25:06 PMI dont really believe a 9 year old boy said "coldhearted."
Posted 12/02/2008 at 06:43:39 PMI agree, "coldhearted" is not in a 9 yr old's vocab (or at least I shouldnt think that it is!). Neither do I think that a 9rd would be able to draw a comparison between cars and girls (which, btw, is really a nasty thing).
Posted 12/03/2008 at 01:32:19 AM9-year-olds have it made. 'How about we hop in the back of your Gremlin and you make a man out of me, baby?'
Posted 12/03/2008 at 07:26:57 AMThis is completely ridiculous. Basically just exploitation of society's love of cute along the lines of the three-year-old girl that could "paint". The sad thing is that there really is quite a precedent in film for this kind of thing: the child wise beyond his/her years about relationships adults can't figure out. It was only a matter of time before some publisher jumped on that.
Posted 12/03/2008 at 07:40:41 AMNot only did he use the word "coldhearted," apparently he also used the word "lothario." Even I had to look that one up, and I consider myself to be a sesquipedalian.
Posted 12/06/2008 at 06:29:35 PMhey thank my boyfriend read your book and now we are in love thank alot
Posted 12/18/2008 at 03:15:58 PM