Boy friend or Boyfriend?

My 4 year old daughter has a boy friend. Not a boyfriend, but a friend that is a boy. To protect the completely innocent I will not use his real name but just call him "boy friend". He is in her class at school and they play together every day.

At first when my daughter began talking about this boy I wondered if the liking was one-sided. But then I saw boy friend's mom before preschool pick-up and mentioned that my daughter had been talking about playing a lot with her son at school and before I could even finish the sentence, his mother said, "Oh my goodness he talks about her all the time! It is so cute!"

It is getting pretty serious. He made her this picture and gave it to her last week.
My daughter is sandwiched between two rather close-in-age brothers, one older, and one younger, so I rationalized that it is totally normal for her to feel more comfortable around boys and thus strike up this best-friendship with a boy rather than a girl in her class. And reminded myself (and my husband) that it was a boy friend with a very definite space in between the two words. The difference is a finer thing! A friend that just so happens to be a boy. I mean they are 4!!

But then, after I helped my daughter get ready for school the other day in an outfit complete with a new pink headband and sparkly princess barrettes (I couldn't convince my daughter to choose either the barrettes or the headband, she insisted on both!), she looked at me with all seriousness and asked, "Do you think boy friend will like my outfit?"

OH MY WORD! If this is 4 years old, I know I can't handle 14!

We will now begin researching all-girls schools to send her to for the rest of her schooling!

Find more Friday Funnies at Homesteader's Heart and Finer Things Friday at The Finer Things in Life.