And they just keep coming. Year after year... decade after literal decade... a parade of beautiful girls in my life that never seems to stop.

Awww, always having beautiful little girls around who want to hang out with you? That must be terrible. :S

But seriously, what you have to understand is that kids may feel things powerfully but not really understand what they're feeling. On the flip side, sometimes they are just mimicking what they see on TV or internet but they don't have a clue what it means. Bottom line: be very careful about reading too much into what they say or do.

But yeah, I've been there. At 41, I'm too old now to attract little girls like I used to (yep, they prefer young people too, just like the rest of us), but back in the day I had girls hitting on me often enough that I knew there was something special about me in their eyes.

I once had a 9-year-old girl come into the tent when I was working the information tent at a local event in my old hometown. She was smart and mature for her age, which I prefer in girls, and sat with me for about an hour. We just talked--or rather, she talked and I mostly listened. Gradually she got around to pointing out that she had no boyfriend but wanted one badly. She then asked me pointedly if I had a girlfriend, to which I said no, and then she asked me (even more pointedly) if I would like one. She was basically asking me out without coming out and saying it directly. I did not know how to answer that because I did want a gf, and I did want her, but I could never admit it.

Later her parents sent her sister around to find her, and she did. A few minutes passed and the girl shows up again with her parents. She had wanted to introduce me to them. If that's not a sign that girls want something more from you, then I don't know what is. Unfortunately, because of circumstances, it was the last time I would ever see her, even though she had told me her full name and even her parents' business, which was in town, and she was often there. Stupid me: I was so starstruck by her that forgot everything she had told me. I still kick myself over that one. I was 16.

That same year a 10-year-old girl I knew (her dad was friends with my parents) and I were sitting in the parking lot where my mom worked at the time, and she just flat out asked if I would be her bf. Of course, I had to tell her no, and I hated myself for it afterward. But as you know, we we cannot realistically do that.

A couple years later I found myself being emotionally toyed with almost daily by a 5-year-old girl I regularly babysat. This girl was a trip, and I fell for her. Hard. I've told that story many times here so I'll spare it this time, but suffice to say, I eventually had to spend a few months out of town to sober myself up. It was a long, stressful and extremely lonely time for me; it was heartbreaking, but that's what I needed to get myself disentangled from this amazing little girl. You never really get over a love that deep, but you have to move on, and I did.

Basically, what I'm saying is, you need to find some way to cope with this or you are going to cause problems for yourself and the girls, obviously. You need to change your mode of thinking. Stop thinking that they want to fuck you--most likely they don't. What they want is someone who will protect them and be their friend, because that's what they see in the movies, and that you can do. Meanwhile, we are here to talk to.

Be good, friend.