I was recently eavesdropping on a conversation between my three-year-old daughter, Libby, and our four-year-old neighbour, Nick, as they played outside.
Nick: Do you have a boyfriend?
Libby – pauses to consider answer.
Libby: Yes. Do you?
Nick laughs, embarrassed.
Nick: No. I’m a boy.
Libby: So?
Nick: I don’t have a boyfriend or a girlfriend.
Libby: I have lots of boyfriends.
Nick: Really?!?
Libby: Yes, there’s Brodie, Austin, Archie, Japhie, Fleetwood, Marlow and you.
Nick: Me?
Libby: Yes, silly, you’re a boy and you’re my friend. I have lots of boys who are friends. I have lots of girls who are friends as well.
Nick: Oh. I guess I do too.
Knock, knock.
I answer the door and find Nick and Libby waiting for me dressed like this:
Boyfriends, girlfriends, batfriends… it’s all the same at this age.