growing up is hard to do

This week Henry has had 2 experiences that make me want to stop time so he can maintain his sweet innocence. On Monday, we were on our way home from the park when he told me that a group of kids (one 2nd grader and about four 1st graders) was laughing at him in the bathroom.
Me: Why were they doing that?
Henry: Because I pull my pants down and they can see my butt when I pee.
Me: Well, how do the other kids do it?
Henry: I don't know.
Me: Maybe they just unzip their pants and only pull their underwear down in the front.
Henry: Oh. I wish they just had doors on the bathroom so no one could see my bum.
Me: Me too. But, we can practice having you go to the bathroom the other way.

So, what's the deal with not letting boys pee in privacy? Aren't there enough perverts around that our little boys shouldn't have to expose themselves every time they go to the bathroom? It made me very angry.

Innocence-stealing experience #2: Henry's class wrote story books. They did a couple of drafts in school, and the teacher typed it up for them, and they drew pictures. Then, they got to go read their books to the kindergartners. Henry's story was about a ricken--a cross between a rooster and a chicken. (I guess he didn't understand that that just meant it was transgender.) Henry read the book to me, and when we got to one of the pages, he had crossed out everything the teacher had typed and written something else above it. Henry's original story said, "He went to find a wife to marry. He walked into the woods and found a chicken and they got married. They had 18 children." He crossed that part out and wrote, "He went to the woods. He saw a duck food. He ate it." I asked him why he changed it and he said it was because he didn't want the other kids to laugh at him.

So sad to me that he has to grow up so fast. But, it seems like the other kids in his class really like him--even the ones who were laughing at him in the bathroom. So, he'll be fine. He does have to learn these things sometime. I just wish it weren't quite so soon.