For me? Definitely by 4th grade - I remember having a crush on my teacher, Mrs. Brigante. Huge. Probably before that, too.
For my son - well, he had just turned 6 and it was Valentine’s Day this year. He asked me about the “little boy who shoots arrows at people” and I explained about Cupid. I said that people like to say that when they are sitting next to someone, Cupid shoots them with an arrow and they fall in love with the person they are sitting next to. And he says:
“Oh - I think Cupid shot me when I was sitting at Table 1” (in Kindergarten)
“Really? Who were you sitting next to?”
(Jake, with Dreamy Voice) “Sinead”
In kindergarten I had a crush on a girl named Laura. I remeber thinking that she was absolutely beautiful, or whatever a 5 yo thinks along those lines. And my darling older sisters had just discovered that old song “Tell Laura I Love Her”, and teased me endlessly by playing and singing it at every oppurtunity.
Laura did not continue to 1st grade and I’ve not seen her since.
And, in the 7th grade, I remember having a huge crush on Becky. In all honesty, I think she started it, and by the time I finally caught on, she had pretty much lost it. This was probably the first “real” one, and also the one that set the pattern. The only way I would ever have not had doubt about whether a certain female was interested in me would have been for her to strip naked and jump on me, proclaiming her affection in a loud voice, which never happened.
When I was in kindergarten, I had a minor falling-out with a dark-haired little girl named Terry. I don’t remember what it was about, but the teacher mentioned it to my mom, and I remember my mom asking me, “F., do you not like Terry?”
I replied, “Sort of. I like her face.”
Mom seemed a little amused, and clarified, “You like her face? But you don’t like her actions?”
I concurred, “Yeah, I don’t like her actions. But I sure like her face”.
Which has pretty much been the story of my relationships ever since.
I also remember the opening theme to ‘Petticoat Junction’, where the three Bradley sisters are swimming in the water tower and pull themselves up to the edge. I was around four years old, and I really liked watching that.
My first crush was in grade 9, on Kathy Sano, a beautiful Japanese-Canadian girl. This continued until the end of high school. Of course, since she was one of those exalted beings who got straight-A’s in math and physics AND was on the cheerleading team, I never had a chance with her.
Oddly, in grade eight, a girl may have had a crush on me, but I was too clueless* to realise it. I just thought she was making fun of me and mocking me, like everyone else did.
[Charlie Brown] SIGH
[/Charlie Brown]
*I knew nothing of Asperger’s Syndrome or MPDD then. All I knew was that I was a clueless social outcast who probably deserved to be kicked around. Things have changed.
I liked a boy in my neighborhood when I was very young – kindergarten/early elementary school age. I got my first serious crush when I was 11. It was love at first sight, and I was head over heels for him throughout all my teen years (alas unrequited, but I got so close a couple of times!). It wasn’t until I met my husband that I finally got over him.
The only reason I stay on at Classmates . com is to see if she will register as an alumni of Telstar Elementary.
That was second grade and over 30 years ago. Actually there was another boy who was crushing on my girl so my first romance was a love triangle. He started a few fights with me for ‘no reason’ but that I he wanted her to himself on the monkey bars. He was much more athletic than I but I’m sure she was way more into me than him.
But it is possible to have these crush feelings and the ‘girls are gross’ feelings.
My earliest crushes manifested themselves mentally as mortal enemies. I was ‘mortal enemies’ with a girl called April. This is only a rough guess but I think I was 9 when I first saw her. She monopolised my thoughts 90% of the time.
Five. I had the hots for Katie W. in kindergarten.
My toddler cousin Ryan, though, is totally jonesing for his babysitter. At his second birthday party last summer, he kept grabbing the fringe of her shorts and pulling her to sit next to him, then cuddling with her.
I was in first grade. I was at a talent show to play the piano and I was sitting next to this girl named Emma. She was this cute little girl with brown hair. I didn’t understand it. All I knew was that my stomach was doing cartwheels the whole time she was in my line of sight. My uncle who was living with us at the time then gave me a talk about boys and girls, but I wasn’t paying much attention since I couldn’t stop thinking about her. My crush lasted for the next year and a half until I moved to a different school. To the best of my knowledge she never knew I existed.
Well… when I was 5 I was gonna marry my friend Dean… but I don’t remember actually being attracted to him.
The first “real” one was called Adam when I was 11. He was a linedancer and I thought he was the coolest guy ever. And the hottest. However not that long afterwards I discovered he was the biggest moron ever… I still see him and I still give him the evilest look ever everytime
Libby was the first, in 1st grade. I didn’t really know I liked her, but I sure liked looking at her.
Here’s how stupid I am: Somehow, my sister figured out I had a crush on a girl. She took the class photo we were all given, and asked me to name each student. When I got to Libby, I realized that my sister would somehow detect I liked Libby. So I said “I’m not telling you.” She said that meant that she now knew which girl I liked. So, to prove I didn’t like the girl, I told my sister the name. Which told my sister everything she needed to know. This was at the time of the commercial “Libby, Libby, Libby, On the table, table, table.” My sister got a lot of mileage after that. I wish I still had that picture, to see what the big deal was.
In 4th grade, it was Erin. I KNEW I liked Erin. Wow. She wore shirts that had spaghetti straps. The guy that would eventually become my best-friend-ever liked her too (We didn’t know each other at the time). He even bought her a necklace and asked her to “go with him.” Everyone was flabbergasted. It was the major scandal of 4th grade.
My first crush was at about age four or five. I’m not sure exactly when it was, but based on where we were living and my parents’ marital status at the time it was somewhere in those years.
I was consumed with a powerful lust for Cher. It wasn’t love; it was lust. Of course, I knew nothing about sex at the time, so all I could really verbalize was that I wanted to “tickle her all over.” I remember the delicious feeling of attraction and mystery very clearly.
That “girls are icky” thing is such a big, big lie. Guys are into girls (and vice versa) from very young. Having babysitted several small boys who were the darlings of us ladies taught me that. (The little Cassanova was sitting on my lap and simultaneously holding onto two other girl’s hands!)
But once boys start socializing with each other they’ll start forming exclusive clubs and do the whole “cooties” thing, hiding their affections for the opposite sex with teasing and pigtail pulling.
And then suddenly it’s more acceptable to hang out with the opposite sex again. shrugs
These are both a bit embarrassing but wth they’re funny. Aged five I had a total crush on my eleven year old brother’s best friend, Pete F. I’d just started at school, they were in the top form. I just wanted to be with Pete so every time I saw him I’d run up to him. My feelings were not reciprocated, so every time he saw me he would run too – in the opposite direction. These merry chases might have continued until the end of term (despite my brother pleading with me to stop) but one day something dreadful happened. While I was running after Pete my knicker elastic broke and they fell down around my ankles. Oh the shame! I couldn’t even look at Pete again.
The second one isn’t exactly about a crush but… For a long time I had no idea what anyone saw in Mick Jagger, I just thought he was funny looking and danced in an exagerated fashion. However I was watching Top of the Pops on my own one evening when I was eleven. The Stones came on (I think it was Brown Sugar, as a new release). I watched Mick pouting and gyrating and suddenly I realised COLOR=DarkRed]“So that’s what sex is all about”[/COLOR]
I’m not a parent, and I have no educational credentials in this area, but my guess is that it’s partly due to conditioning from parents, who are understandably concerned about their children getting involved with things they’re not prepared for.
E.g., a friend of mine once told me that he was driving his eight-year-old son to school, when the boy blurted out, “Daddy, why does my pee-pee get hard when I think about girls?”
My friend and I both laughed and shook our heads for a few minutes.
At his behest, I finally offered that I would say, “Son, it means you’re starting to become a man. If you have any other questions like that, you feel free to ask me or mommy”.
But that was with a few minutes to reflect – off the cuff, I couldn’t have improved on my friend’s nervous, “Son, I’ll tell you when you’re older.”
If it makes you feel better, I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t attracted to girls - however, I never would have admitted it under pain of death. I remember denying up and down that I had crushes on certain girls even when I really did.
I agree with you, Interface2X…the very first specific girl was Linda Lee. She was such a cutie. Blond curls and blue eyes, and the only person I knew at the time who was shorter than me. (Hey, I was 5 years old!)
And she stayed just as cute and sweet, all the way through high school, even though we never dated. Unless you count sitting on the wall and looking at the warts on my hand as a date. I guess what drove us apart was her decrasing interest in bugs and snakes and stuff.
Thanks for stirring my memories. I’ve known so many great girls/women, and remember them fondly…
