Should Second Graders Have a Facebook?

Theodore Roosevelt Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It's a warm day and I'm sitting on a bench reading Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes when a couple of young girls sit down to eat lunch on the bench next to me. At first, I admit, I was annoyed. I wanted to sit and enjoy a quiet afternoon in the park, not listen to little girls talk about whatever little girls talk about - Barbies? Horses? Okay, it'd be alright if they talked about horses.

From eavesdropping on their conversation I learned they were in the third grade. Several other children sat around the benches to eat their bag lunches. One of the boys had a 'make your own pizza' Lunchable and I have to say, I was a bit jealous. Yes, it is immature, but those things are both fun and delicious!

Anyway, I tried to ignore the two girls next to me as I read my book, but then this question caught my attention:

"Should second graders have a Facebook?" One of the girls asked the other.

I stopped reading.

"Maybe if they're really talkative," replied the other one.

I laughed a little bit.

"But, I mean, they're second graders, they're so small," she said, gesturing to some of the other kids who, by the way, did not look any smaller than these two girls.

"Yeah."

"Do you think fifth graders should date?"

I'm so glad I'm listening to this conversation, I thought, smiling ever so slightly.

"I don't know."

 "It's so weird. They're 10. I told my dad about fifth graders dating and he was like, So what? I kissed girls when I was 10," she said as she reached into the Michael Kors bag on her lap and pulled out an apple.

At least this girl had a sense of style. And good eating habits.

"That is so sad," she said after a brief pause.

I dated a boy when I was 10.

"Yeah, like, you kissed your mother when you were 10," laughed the other girl.

What?

The two girls laughed together and then continued talking about something else that wasn't as interesting, like play dates or whatever.

Kids these days.