Boy ALL Boy!

BOYsterous Boys

One of the first reality checks I’ve encountered with having two boys is that they are just that…boys. Sure I have brothers and nephews but I didn’t raise them or have them with me 24/7. I am thankful to have grown up with four “all boy” brothers who were broad, tough, messy, smelly and 100% ready for any competitive event.

I still remember their messy rooms and how they so nonchalantly threw their clothes any which way. Had it not been for my tidy mother, we would have probably never seen the color of their carpet. I remember playing sports with them in our backyard. We are eight kids ( 4 boys and 4 girls) and being the youngest girl, I was considered the weakest link. We would play any sport (even made up our own) till the sun went down. Then we would go back in the house sweaty, smelly and hungry. I thank God for my brothers because He must have known I would make mental notes of these moments to one day revisit them and appreciate them…and here we are today.

The other day I laid my 2 and 1/2-year-old down to change yet another poopy diaper (still boycotting the toilet for this) and boy was it a poignant one. Holding my breath to get this done as quickly as possible, I finally finished, tossed diaper in trash and immediately sprayed air freshener in the room to rid the stench. To this Rockford replied, “Yuck that stinks.” That stinks? What a boy I thought.

Rockford is as energetic as boys come, wanting to climb, jump and run any chance he gets. Initially, my knee jerk reaction was always to reign him in from tempting the laws of gravity. I wanted him to be a proper and well-mannered child. The problem was I was being negligent or perhaps naive to the Truth. What do I mean by this? I mean, the way God designed our boys. It wasn’t by chance he made him like this, it was for a purpose.

I recently picked up the book “Bringing up Boy” by Dr. James Dobson and have been showered with tons of information about boys.  In his book he sates that each sex has a unique purpose in the great scheme of things. Because women are the child bearers they are inclined toward predictability, stability, security, caution and steadiness. Men, on the other hand, have been designed for a different role. Hence, they value change, opportunity, risk, speculation and adventure. They are designed to provide for their families physically and to protect them from harm and danger. This is a divine assignment. That was my big AHA! moment. So maybe I shouldn’t just allow it, I should encourage it? Well let me put it  in the words of Dr. Dobson’s father, “If you let that kid get bored, you deserve what he’s going to do to you”.

I  get it now, and have started encouraging Rockford for his greater purpose. Like the other day when one of those lazy fat cats that keeps coming into our backyard showed up again, I immediately called my son and asked him to scare it off so it would leave the yard. I said “Rockford take this broom and shoo him away. Tell him this is your house and he needs to leave.” With his chest out as proud and brave as a little 2 and a half-year old could be, he picked up the broom, walked over to the deck’s wooden fence where the fat cat sat and started assertively waving the broom in the air while chanting, “Get out cat! Get out! This is my house! Get out!”  The beauty of this image is that even though the length of my son and the broom in the air was still 2 feet too short to even brush the cat, it did flee. I think it was the confidence and determination Rockford demanded that scared it away.

Bottom line, I love my boys for who they are…”All Boy” boys. Do you have a story about your boy being “all boy” or daughter you would like to share? I would love to hear it.

Tags: boys, funny, God, life, motherhood, parenting, purpose, raising boys