Growing up too fast? II

　　At what age a boy dates depends very much on the bo y himself. And again, physical size bears no relation t o emotional readiness. Anywhere from thirteen or fourte en on, a boy may be ready to leave the teasing group of boys and go on his first date. His family will be well prepared for the matamorphosis that may occur.

　　The first sign, of course, is cleanliness. He will suddently begin bathing without reminders, lengthily co mbing his hair before setting out for school instead of merely running the comb—or more likely, his fingers —th rough it. Suddenly his shoes may seem to take on a poli sh, and he will stop biting his fingernails. He will re quire two or three times his usual number of clean shir ts, and he will even take an unusual interest in ties, socks, and handkerchiefs, hitherto items of no interest at all. He may also beg in to agitate about his inadequ ate allowance and start wondering out loud how he can a ugment it by a little manual labour. He constantly asks if anyone notices how deep his voice is getting. It is usually Mother who sees the signs first. She knows inst inctively that her son is about to take his first steps away from her apron strings. Most of what she can do fo r him she has already done. Soon he will probably turn more and more to his father for counsel, or to some fat her substitute.

　　Boys usually begin by going to games and school dan ces stag. They yearn from the sidelines, while pretendi ng a vast lack of interest in the equally cohesive girl s. After a certain amount of this, mothers often sugges t, "Joe, why don't you take Mary to the game this after noon? " This is usually met with a derisive snort, but soon, sure enough, Mary and Joe are eating popcorn toge ther in the bleachers. As a result of the motherly appr oval he needed, Joe has probably blurted, "You want to go to the game tomorrow, Mary?" and Mary has said, "Sur e." From then on, making dates is easy enough.

　　by Xu Kaiyuan