Relationships
23 People Reveal Their First Childhood Crushes & The Adorbs Things They Did
No matter how old you get, you never forget your first childhood crush. Mine was a boy named Lenny. I spotted him on the first day of first grade and immediately started crushing on him. He had a light blonde bowl cut that danced around his face when he ran and his eyes were red and puffy from crying when his mom left. It was love. I remember thinking, "I am gonna get him alone and kiss him." (TBH my romantic tactics haven't changed much over the years). I was on a mission — a failed mission because, of course, he liked my friend Ciara. Typical. I've probably forgotten half of the folks I've actually dated since then, but I'll never forget Lenny.
As it turns out, I'm not the only one who still remembers my first brush with hormones. In a recent Reddit thread, people were asked "Who was your first crush and what did you do?" and their answers were both sweet and hilarious. There were stolen kisses, broken hearts, life-long love affairs, and, um, a lot of throwing up. (Well, at least my first crush wasn't the most awkward story, right?) But mostly, these stories just melt your heart with their epic adorableness.
Their First Kiss
His kisses tasted like peanut butter. His family moved back to Puerto Rico. He broke my 5 year old heart. MIGUEL!!!!!!!!!!!
I was 6 years old when I had my first crush on a girl in my class. I saw her kissing another kid in my class when school was over, so I asked her if I could get a kiss as well, and she said yes and kissed me. I spent the entire afternoon searching for wedding pictures in magazines and newspapers that I cut out and glued on a tin cookie box that I filled with all kinds of candy. The next day at school I gave her the box and asked her to marry me. I think we "dated" for a week or so untill [sic] everything went back to normal and we both pretended nothing happened. It was pretty awkward. She contacted me through Facebook twenty years later and told me she still has that tin cookie box.
— Ganethos
Mikala. We were playing tag in kindergarten and she was it. I dodged her and said"missed me, missed me now you gotta kiss me". She then chased me down into a corner like a rabbit, then planted one right on my cheek. That was IT.
Kristen. We were in kindergarten together. I was on a swing and saw her walking by. She was new so I jumped off the swing and talked to her and told her she had pretty eyes. She said I did too and we became inseparable. We had our first kiss in the hallway outside the classroom. I proposed to her with a ring that I made out of a piece of string.
Daniel in kindergarten, also my first boyfriend and first kiss. I asked him to sit next to me during story time and we held hands and then he would meet me before school and carry my backpack to the classroom and hang it up for me and then he'd carry it for me to the spot where we would part ways so I could get picked up and he'd get on the bus after school. We always napped next to each other and always ate snacks together. I used to bring him stickers and he told me I was pretty. And one day we snuck into the closet we kept back packs and I gave him a kiss. Damn Daniel... where are you these days
Well, That’s… Awkward
His name was Jose Perez and I approached my crush on him the same way I have every crush after; I ignored him and hoped for a miracle.
I can't remember her name but she was pretty cool, not that talkative, and pretty strong. I peed my pants in front of her.
— Ashen44
2nd grade. Jennifer Smith, so I can't even Google her to find out where she is now. I signed her autograph book "I think you are the cutest gril in class." She laughed at my spelling.
— zandyman
Karen Davis. Kindergarten. I screamed "I love you" in her direction out at recess a lot.
His name was Patrick and we were in pre-school together. I took the plastic eggs from the play food area of the classroom, explained to him that we were a chicken and a rooster, and insisted that we take turns sitting on the eggs.
Wrote her a letter with the kind of "romantic" language I learned from the telenovelas my babysitter would watch, stuff like "I long for the sweet touch of your lips". I was 6 or something. I also said I wanted to marry her. When my parents asked, "where would you sleep?" I triumphantly answered, "together in your room of course!" (I still slept in my parents' bed, too scared to sleep alone).
The first one I remember was in 3rd grade. My sister convinced me to make her a valentine, a big cardboard heart, I mean huge. Painted red and all that. Don't really remember her reaction but I remember being happy and my sisters who helped me make it and told me to do it being happy as well. Fast forward a little to family reunion, the only one I have ever been to. Notice her and was exited [sic] because I've never seen her outside of school. Asked her what she was doing there. She ended up being my cousin.
So. Much. Barfing.
Mike W in 7th grade. I went on the tilt-a-whirl after 2 sno cones, large cotton candy, and Mountain Dew. I puked on our shoes after the ride. They were my sweet platform sneakers too. Poor Mike. Nothing like purple vomit to kill the budding love of young teens!
Karla. I stress-puked in front of her and my classmates.
His name was Kyle and he sat next to me in fourth grade. He threw up in the trash can twice on the first day of school and then just about every week for the rest of the year. He told me he liked a girl. I thought he was talking about me. He was not.
Called her house and said nothing but "I love you" before slamming the phone down (back when you could still do that) and ran to the bathroom to puke. I was a super smooth 9 year old.
Love At First Crush
I was 11. He was joking around with his friends in science class when I saw him. I was all, 😍. Yada yada yada We got married and had a kid and life is awesome.
First crush when I was 14. The girl that everyone wanted. In the middle of PE, she asked me if I was sexually attracted to her. I was focused on the cricket game and jokingly said yes. She then hands me a piece of paper with her number and the rest is history. We got married 4 years ago, and have 2 pretty decent kids
Kate. I asked her to marry me & even told all my friends I was going to marry her. She said no. But I persisted over a very long time. Then she said yes. That was over 20 years ago & she still takes my breath away every day.
Sean, 5 or so. He'd come over to my house after school every day (my mom babysat him). He kissed me once at school and we got in trouble. Around the first grade we pinky swore that we'd get married some day, had mock weddings all the time. Crush faded, he came out publicly in the tenth grade but he told me years before. Actually we both dated the same guy once without knowing it. We're now in university and we still walk home from classes together. Love him like family.
Young Love Hurts ... Literally
Boy named Carl. Punched him in the stomach because I thought it would make him think I was a cool, tough girl. Instead, he cried, his mom yelled at me and I had to stay in for recess. Womp, womp.
I asked him to be my boyfriend on the playground. When he said "no" i hit him in the head with a stick.
Now This Is Some Impressive Game
I was in preschool and every day we'd have nap time where the teacher would have us break out the sleeping mats. Two people would be designated to spread out the sleeping mats (each mat had a person's name on it). My crush and I were selected to spread the mats out one day, and so we put everyone that we knew liked each other or were friends together (much to the teacher's dislike) and then I sneakily decided to put my mat next to the boy I had a crush on...hidden behind a group of desks so we could be secretive and talk. I still remember my heart beating out of my chest as I made such a bold move so we could NAP together. Oh my. I played match maker that day for other girls in my class AND myself. I was a sneaky girl, but my teacher caught onto it and had someone else take over. I still got to be close to him though and my little preschool heart couldn't handle it.
Ahhhh, young love. So sweet, so pure. What happened?!
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