Childhood and adolescence can be hard: you're trying to figure out how to get through the world and navigate school at the same time. It gets even more difficult when you start to add romantic feelings to the mix.
Teens, especially, have a tendency to be both obvious in their affections (to an outside observer) and completely oblivious to the advances of others.
Reddit user u/Conduit3 asked:
10.
Used to be a Calc 1 teaching Assistant -- this really smart kid kept coming up to the TA sessions because he very obviously had a crush on a girl (who would also show up to after-hours). They would both be the only two people in the sessions. When they needed homework help, I'd ask them to solve the problems together and come to me if they had any questions (while I pretended to catch up on work but actually played GTA on my laptop). Sometimes I'd overhear them talking and getting to know each other -- it was cute. He sure did make my life a hell of a lot easier.
9.
Right now I have two kids in my 1st period that just don't leave each other alone. The girl constantly complains if the boy doesn't show up to school. He is always pulling on her hair or finding any excuse to touch her (he likes to play thumb wars just to hold hands). It's really cute but also annoying because they refuse to do work sometimes . I usually get them to do work by saying a very loud and annoying "Awwww". Teaching is fun .
8.
I teach k-8 and some of the older kids will tell me or their friends will tell me. A lot of the fifth grade girls like the middle school boys, and they just get all giggly and it's pretty adorable. There's a few of the slightly younger kids who I can tell might end up dating when they're older because of how they bicker. Just watching the dynamics that go on in the school is generally entertaining.
7.
Former 6th grade teacher here. I was there to witness one of my kids take his first big leap: at lunch, he asked the girl he had a crush on "will you go on a date with me?" She smiled and said yes. Immediately the boy on the other side of her said "Don't go out with him, go out with me!" She smiled AND SAID OK.
Middle school is tough, man.
6.
Teenagers are not subtle by nature, but they are amazingly oblivious when it comes to matters of the heart (they are really perceptive with other things, though).
The boys almost never recognize if a girl likes them, and the girls never realize a guy is showing interest. It's funny to watch it happen -- it's so blatantly obvious as an outsider, but I remember being just as oblivious as a student.
Comes with experience. Or as a guy, sometimes never at all.
Did she just smile at me? Was that a wink? Is she flirting with me? Was that hug a hint or just something she does? Is she just being nice by talking to me?
Better play it safe. Don't say anything
5.
One of my students' father told me his son liked a girl in his kinder class. He said, "She's pretty Dad. She looks like a dragon." The dad laughed and said, "We're gonna have to work on your compliments son."
I don't know what the dad's talking about, that's a top tier compliment right there.
Idk, I would like to be called a dragon. Dragons are epic
4.
Incredibly obvious. It's also unfortunately obvious when they have a crush on you. Awkward as f---.
I've never purposefully helped my students get closer with their crushes (it's already hard enough to make a seating chart without considering these things) but I don't tease them about it like some do and might let a quick convo or note passing slip by if I catch on to what's going on.
It's also unfortunately obvious when they have a crush on you. Awkward as fuck.
Oof. Now I feel really bad for the teachers I had crushes on in high school.
3.
Oh man, the longing stares across the room. The almost creepy wistful "what-ifs" you can just see in their eyes.
When I was in middle school, that was me.
It's almost painful how relatable some of these stories are. Didn't realize I was so obvious and oblivious at the same time
2.
God if my 8th grade math teacher was on reddit she'd tell a story about how she had to tell u/Flynn_lives
"hey moron, stop playing SimCity 2000 for a second and pay attention to the girl sitting next to you, who is literally professing her love to you"
I was a dumb*ss
1.
I hold a lot of class discussions... sometimes it's easy because you'll notice kids smile different when their crush is talking, their entire body will suddenly cue into that person... it's adorable.
Two kids in my 5th grade class were 'dating' and they would each talk about "someone special" during morning meeting which made them happy and would turn their whole bodies to each other when talking. It was super adorable. The boy even sang the song "Guys like me" during the talent show dedicated to her.
Unfortunately they broke up and the following drama ensued. But now they are almost dating again. Who the hell knows with 11-year-olds.
@kileywrestling/Bluesky
