As you may have noticed, I have have two girls. Two very girly girls. And I have two sisters. And no younger boy cousins or nephews or godsons. I come from a family packed to the gills with estrogen.
Which means, as D-Day approaches I'm getting more and more nervous about having a boy. Don't get me wrong. I'm really looking forward to this little boy. And I can't wait to start a new baby adventure.
But, boy stuff? That I'm completely unprepared for.
From the simplest of tasks (diaper changes) to the more complicated issues (potty training), I'm just completely at a loss. I've changed all of 2 boy diapers in my twenty-**cough**-something years. I babysat for one boy child. Once. And, I didn't even do that for more than a couple hours.
Can you tell I'm freaking out?
Okay, so here's where the internets bail me out. Tell me, friends, what are your best boy tips and tricks? What do I need to know? What will the baby books fail to tell me?
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Since you asked and since I am an expert of 12 years on the subject, I will be happy to heap my mountains and tomes of boy-rearing knowledge and wisdom on you.
Actually, I got nothin'! hah!
When that sonogram showed it was a boy, I was disappointed, I confess. I wanted another girl. Now? He's an incredible blessing. Wish I'd had a sports team full of boys instead of just one. It's great!!!
The main thing to remember is that a boy's love for his mama is something fierce. With that, your love will be fiercer. He's your little man. Think of the man you want him to grow into; write the characteristics down on paper, even. Then work backwards from there. What kind of wife would you like him to have? Be that kind of wife to your husband. How do you want him to see/behave towards and think about women? Teach him to treat you and your daughters that way. Integrity, respect for others, a life-long love of learning, strong faith, family first; whatever characteristics are important to you in an adult male, think about what that looks like through the years backwards and parent him accordingly.
And give him plenty of room to be a boy. They're just different. It'll all be sticks and stones until they hit puberty. Then it will be way gross until they discover girls. I haven't made it past that part yet; things are still gross around here and the girls are already showing up. (Dude! Pick up your dirty underwear! And why do your shoes smell like raw sewage!!??!)
I'll let you know what happens next.
I had no idea what to do with my son either. First, boys are DIFFERENT than girls. VERY different. My son has me going crazy, he's always into things and just a handful. My daughter was more chill and laid back.
But the main thing nobody will tell you? The boy part points down in the diaper. Otherwise you'll have massive leaks :-)
Holy Dookie! I've had a boy for 10.5 months and nobody told me what Tiffany just wrote. Nobody.
As a mom of boys, and foster to many boys, I can tell you you'll find this. Your kids love you, you're the mom. But your boys, now thats some real lovin. I love all my children and fosters but my boys and I have a
special relationship, that the girls and I just cannot have (the competition thing I think)
Snakes and snails and other oddities? Enjoy em, let the boys be boys and have fun. You'll be surprised how engaged you become with those things. And baseball and basketball and football and hockey and and and
Congratulations! and much love
For snakes we buy a sword, for snails we buy a frying pan and for puppy dog tails we buy a bone. What's so hard about that?
As a VERY girly girl myself, I didn't think I'd know what to do with boys, either, esp. not two of them. But honestly, now that we have two, we're having such fun that we'd be happy to end up with four more boys. A girl would be such a shift in thought that we'd hardly know what to do with her!
Boys are easy. That's just it. Give them blocks, an open grassy area, a handful of cars, and they're good. Just be ready to be crazy--rolling on the floor, foot races, banging on old coffee cans as drums. Noise and movement will be your best friends. Along with a huge helping of praise and respect--remember you're raising a little man, and he'll need respect like oxygen from day one, just like your girls need to be told they're your princesses. Carol's advice above is EXCELLENT.
Have fun, because that's exactly what boys are made of. :)
Hmmmm ... my advice after four years of raising a boy?
1. Load up on Band-Aids and ice packs.
2. Buy super-glue
3. Learn the names of all major Star Wars characters.
4. Learn how to make sound effects for guns and light sabers.
5. Potty train in the summer when he can pee anywhere in the back yard.
6. Make sure Thomas does the "teaching him to pee standing up" part of the training.
7. Buy books on pirates, knights and dinosaurs.
8. Learn to throw a spiral.
It'll be fun. I was just reading this to Al, and said, "Boys are easy. They play and eat." Nothing to be scared about there ...
I'll give you the advice I was given when my son was born: strap on your running shoes now, because you're going to need them! And run him twice a day.
Energy. It's all about energy. I'm only a year in though, so that's all I've got.
Post a Comment