Have you ever arrived home from the grocery store to find your children naked in the front yard playing? And has your husband, when asked if he was aware of the situation, responded with, “How did they get into the front yard?” Oh my…if only today was the first time this has happened. Nudity, peeing in public, and combination superhero/emergency rescue personnel costumes are just part of being the mom of boys
.
I used to find myself exasperated and embarrassed by the
nudity and peeing. Before long the
exasperation fell away, and only recently did the embarrassment fade. The opportunity to hear a child psychologist
who specializes in boys speak helped me realize that no matter what I say or
do, I’ll continue to find myself smack-dab in the middle of these types of
situations. I’ve always embraced the
fact that boys are different, but I’ve never bought into the idea that these
differences merit the breaking of social norms.
Learning that boys’ brains are physically different than girls’ brains
empowered me to let go of the judgment and embarrassment that accompanied this
stance. The frontal lobe of a boy’s
brain is less active and slower to grow than that of a girl’s. The frontal lobe is where thought processing
happens. So quite literally, boys act
BEFORE thinking. Any mother of boys
wouldn’t be surprised by this statement, but the knowledge that there is a
physical reason may come as a surprise.
So keep that chin up, prepare to laugh at the adventures of
the day, and join me on the library’s wait list for the book by this
psychologist who made me realize my boys are not freaks of nature. I’m anxious to read “Wild Things” by David
Thomas. And in the meantime, I’ve
subscribed to his blog, www.raisingboysandgirls.com. There’s nothing more dangerous than an
informed mother…I may need to get a superhero/emergency rescue worker costume
of my own:-)
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