Advice for a new “father figure”
I work at a local game store and about a year ago a kid came in and started playing the Pokémon TCG at our shop. I run all the Pokémon stuff and we would get to chatting about it and he would start asking for advice and help on all sorts of Pokémon stuff. Soon I had convo with his mom and she explained that he didn’t have a father figure in his life and he looked up to me and asked if I could watch after him while she wasn’t around. Of course I said I would be glad to and me and this kid started bonding more. He’s in middle school and so he’s dealing with all the normal teenage stuff that comes with the territory but I’ve met a lot of kids and teens through my work and hes one of the most emotionally mature kids I’ve ever seen. However the closer I get the more I’m worried I’ll overstep boundaries (after all I’m not his dad). I also worry that I’m messing up or doing something wrong. I wanna give some examples: He had went to his first school dance and he was really excited. He was showing all the co workers his date he went with except for me. I was worried that I had done something wrong or he was hiding something from me. When I asked him about it he showed me the photo and I understand what was going on. He went on a date with another boy from his school. Of course I was fine with it and happy he came out to me but I was worried that I had done something wrong to make him feel nervous about telling me. He said I didn’t and he was just busting my chops but theres this little voice in my head telling me what if.
I see so much of myself inside this little dude and we hang out on discord and play some Pokémon all the time. I’ve even given him an “unpaid paid internship” at the shop and he sorts cards and learns more about the business. We traveled twice together with friends to a big Pokémon tournament and on a little shopping road-trip and I just wanna go on more with the dude.
The things I want advice are:what is overstepping my boundaries? I don’t want to overstep and upset his mom but I also wanna step up and teach this kid and watch him grow. Is there any advice on lessons I could teach him without taking something away from his mom?