Friday, March 27, 2009

Wow, are boys different!

Having four girls right in a row makes you think you are the perfect parent. You think you are ready for anything, and then you get thrown an errant curve ball. Boys are incredibly different. My son just likes to take things apart for no good reason. It isn't uncommon for him to tear something up without blinking an eye. He can get into the most unusual predicaments. To find him sitting on the kitchen table is commonplace. What is it about boys that make them want to flush the toilet? Over and over? Henry seems to be having the same problem, and he linked a great cartoon that explains it really well.

The Lord be with us, Henry!

13 comments:

Karma Shuford said...

Lesseee, your little man is what, 18, 20 months old, and it took you this long to figure out they are different?

Boy, you's a little slow on the uptake, ain't ya? either that or you don't change many diapers. :P

Seriously (well, more seriously, anyway), I'm amazed at how different my two are. We've never pushed gender specific toys on the Princess, and even though her primary exposure was her brother's airplanes, grenades and other plastic weaponry, she naturally drifted to dolls and stuffed animals.

They share the play kitchen set, though. :)

Karma Shuford said...

Oh yea-- When you raise a boy, you worry about one boy.

When you raise a girl, you worry about all the boys.

Just something for you to ponder over the next 15 or so years. :)

Bernard Shuford said...

Night and day, chief, night and day.

Verification word = "mudcon"

Sounds like a good tire, to me.

Tony said...

I will admit to being slow on the uptake most days, but this is one place I ain't. I thought Henry's post was good and having followed him for about two years now, and seeing as how they just adopted a little boy, our pains are similar. :)

M has never played with the girls' stuff. You can literally hand him a baby doll or Polly Pocket or some such nonsense and He'll just throw it down. Give him something with a wheel and he's happy.
He will however try to tear up one of the girls' toys, for sure.

Bernard--Mudcon; a Dixie reconnaissance unit maybe?

Karma Shuford said...

:)

M. may eventually play with their toys, but not in the standard way. He will tie them up to trees, take them apart, burying them in the sandbox, etc.

And I don't know about M., but Trav has an uncontrollable desire to beat on stuff -- whether it is with a fork, a pencil, a stick, whatever, he has to be hitting something with it.

Karma Shuford said...

My serious thoughts on the subject (well, as serious as mine are) is how much of the "difference" is trained (either deliberately or not), and how much of it is "natural?"

Tony said...

I have often wondered about "nature" vs. "nurture."

Nobody taught M how to make a car noise when pushing a little car on the floor. He just got here knowing how to do it. The difference is really stark after having four girls and then seeing a boy who is opposite in so many ways. All the girls have enjoyed playing with baby dolls. M will throw a doll on the floor.

There are a lot of similarities, but the differences are so plain they are hard to miss.

Karma Shuford said...

I suspect the difference is even more noticeable when the girls are first. Girls seem to play with boy "stuff" more/easier than girls do with boy stuff.

Growing up, I used to play with matchbox cars, football and legos with the neighbors, then go home and play with my dolls. They never played with my dolls with me, then went home and played with their stuff. :P

selahV said...

Tony, what a joy to hear you have a rambuncious, normal little boy living amid the little bunnies. He will have their hearts forever.

Just wait till he's 15 and jumping 25 feet jumps on his motorcycle and breaking both ankles in his growth plates. He'll get casted for 8 weeks and confined to a wheelchair. Then he'll do wheelies in the wheelchair, jump off his grandma's front concrete porch just to prove he can, and he'll be caught hitching a ride by holding on to the back of a buddy's pickup truck in the church parking lot for a thrill he can't get anywhere else in his confined state.

Life is going to be so great for you. Boys are a blast. Great for adrenaline rushes when you're old and grey. Yeah. You're gonna have so much man-guy fun. selahV

Tony said...

He is definitely rambunctious. He has proven to be so different from the girls it is almost uncanny. It sounds like you have a rambunctious one in your midst, too!

I am looking forward to a bright future with my son. Well, actually with all my kids! Thank you for dropping in!

Anonymous said...

Tony:
And "Grandpa Preacher" will be in charge of Motorcycle Training, if that is ok? lol

Tony said...

Yeah, we're looking forward to his first hog with training wheels...rofl!

Karma Shuford said...

travis got a harley big wheel when he was 2. kristi is about to outgrow it, so we may have to pass it on. . . .. :P