A teacher asks middle schoolers to define dating and guides them to recognize it involves romantic or sexual attraction, not just friendship. Students mention crushes, texting, hanging out, and kissing as examples of what sets dating apart from close friendships.
What does that mean when you hear that somebody's dating in middle school? What can that mean? Raise your hand. Give me examples of what that means. Yes? They have a crush on each other. They have a crush on each other. Okay, very good. Any others? They call each other. They call each other. All right, now I want to pause because a lot of those sounded like good friends. They hang out together. They text a lot. They call each other. So what's the difference in really good friends and dating? What would be the difference? In the— oh, yep. I'll go here first and then I'll come over there. Yep. They might kiss. They might kiss. Okay, they might kiss. So there's a— you're describing there's a kind of attraction to each other that is different than the friendship. Right. Right? Is that what you're describing? Yes. Right. So it's a different kind of kiss than somebody might give a friend is what you're saying. Yes. Okay. So it's an intimate, more of an attraction versus a loving kiss of 2 people like you kiss your parents, you kiss your grandma. It's different, correct? Yes. All right. Excellent.
