Raising Princes
Posted by Kristen on Jan 27, 2011 in Child Development, Parenting | 2 commentsWell, if you had asked me yrs ago if I wanted boys or girls I would have said I thought God would probably give me 6 little girls because no way could I handle little boys. Ironically, I have 2 boys, that both happen to be ALL boy. And amazingly enough we are navigating our way through parenting little boys, some days quite blindly and with gas masks on but making it through nonetheless!
I hear lots of people say that boys are much easier than girls. I disagree so far. Maybe in the teenage yrs I will see this more clearly but right now they are tough. No tougher than girls but by no means easy. I feel the pressure to raise princes. Not spoiled brat princes but rather noble, God-fearing, sweet-natured, compassionate, gentle, kind, strong boys. I want them to have good manners and for them to be a pleasure to be with. Sounds easy, right?! I will let you know when we are done about 20 yrs from now. In the midst of it I feel like it is a daily challenge. Thank goodness they have a wonderful daddy because he is able to model this so much more nobly than my naggy mom attempts to teach.
And just to give you a good laugh I will give you a tidbit from one of my morning conversations with Jackson. Disclaimer: you don’t have to read on.
As I was cleaning off one of Owen’s dirty cloth diapers Jackson asked if he could watch. Sure, whatever. So gross.
As he watched me he said, “I learned from George (curious george) that you can use warm poop to help grow your garden”
me: “Jackson, we don’t talk about bathroom things and I don’t really think George used warm poop to grow his garden.”
he argued with me for a few minutes and stayed strong in the argument that George really did teach him that. Finally he said, “no mom, not WARM poop, I said WORM poop” (as in using worms in a compost pile.)
me: “oh, well either way, we don’t talk about potty stuff”
Last week I bought myself a few new scarfs, accessories and a couple of casual dresses to wear with leggings. Now more than ever I feel the need to put on some more feminine, girly things to balance out these boys in the house. I love them to pieces but talking about WORM poop growing my garden at 7 AM just isn’t my fav way to begin my day.
I am guessing I have posted this pic before but I couldn’t resist. You can see the pleasure in his smile. He loves it!
I am the mother of three boys, who are all VERY male and I intend them to be princes too. If I can get past all the toilet-humour and ‘projects’ at least I’ll get to keep my own clothes…I hope.
…and I think I got boys because I’d be hopeless at doing little girls’ hair…