Monday Motherhood Musings: Raising Boys?



Skateboarding boy courtesy of akarakingdom; freedigitalphotos.net

 Alright moms...do any of you understand boys?  I mean, I have figured out (pretty much) how to handle men in my old age, but I don't get boys.  I guess, then, that I really don't "get" men...but I do understand how to relate to them as pertains to an adult relationship.

I still don't get all the idiosyncrasies involved in their socialization with one another..like grunting, what is that?  How is that a response and how in the world do the other men understand what it means?  My oldest son is 8 and he is a big grunter.  I ask what he wants for breakfast, and he flickers his eyes or makes some indeterminable grunt and I am supposed to figure it out.

Some days I just want to scream, "I AM A GIRL.  I DON'T GET IT!!!!"

My sons are precious, loving, and yank at my heart strings with one look, but I don't get them.

Why do boys do things like hold up their palms, straight up and flat, and say "Punch it.  No!  Harder.  Didn't hurt.  Doesn't hurt."  I don't understand that.  I have watched this interesting behavior take place in my home over and over again.  It's not a fight, so I don't put a stop to it.  It's a guy thing.

My darling love is 50 years old and still participates in this "didn't hurt" activity...as related  to me by himself, a friend will punch another friend in the bicep, and the punchee with say, "Didn't hurt!" Of course, this requires the puncher to punch again in the exact same spot on the bicep, which I know from experience does, in fact, hurt...I remember my sister doing this to me when I was a child and I never figured out how she knew to do that.  Of course, the man with the throbbing arm will never be the wimp I was and will say, "Didn't hurt!"

The boys constantly compete for me.  If one is touching me in any way, shape, or form, then the other must come and touch me.  If I am on the couch, I am guaranteed to have them climbing on me, fighting about who sits where and who is getting to be in greater physical contact with mommy. 

If I am sitting straight up, it is a constant invasion into the other person's "territory"...one little hand wrapped around my waist will slither over past the halfway point and then....it's on!  "You're on my half."  "She's my mommy."  "I was born first."  You get the picture.

BubbaB8 and NuggetizerB5 are incredibly competitive for everything, and they are regularly rolling on the floor with one another in headlocks and whatnot.  I just don't understand it.  If they were fighting about who stole clothing from one another's closet, or who used someone's makeup, or even who had more friends or love interests...now that, I understand.  The boy thing, it's a mystery.

I understand why people would want to clone humans.  It had to be a mother's idea, and I swear she had boys.

Skateboarding Boy; akarakindgom; freedigitalphotos.net
Heart art; Idea go; freedigitalphotos.net
Fists; annankkml; freedigitalphotos.net