Parenting Boys

I just read this blog post that I spotted on Facebook and aside from making me get all weepy it really got me thinking about parenting the boys. Because it has to be different than parenting girls (you know all the girls I have raised). Obviously I don't have a clue what it is like to parent a girl, but I am a girl so I do remember some things about us troublesome drama queens.

But parenting boys? I barely understand the boy I am married to most days, how in the world am I supposed to know what to do with two additional ones? But my rant is really not about my inadequacies as a mother (we all know those), it is about just the daunting task of raising two men.

I feel a huge responsibility to raise a man. A man that is kind and generous but also strong and capable. A man that is smart but knows that women are just as smart and sometimes smarter. And I would like them to be compassionate and good huggers. We know that is an uphill battle in my house....

Every time I read something about bullying or standardized test scores I get more and more terrified. What if James stays this way and is a bully? What is someone tells Zach he is not the smartest boy ever and he listens? I want to cry.

While the post did not give me all the answers it gave some actions. And I like actions. Then I got to the last part of the post about the mom being home base. It was just what I needed to hear. That they will be OK. That I will be OK

Eh, and if not, it at least made me feel a little better and the task a little less daunting for today.

"You are home to him.  When he learns to walk, he will wobble a few feet away from you and then come back, then wobble away a little farther and then come back.  When he tries something new, he will look for your proud smile.  When he learns to read, he will repeat the same book to you twenty times in a row, because you’re the only one who will listen that many times.  When he plays his sport, he will search for your face in the stands.  When he is sick, he will call you.  When he really messes up, he will call you.  When he is grown and strong and tough and big and he feels like crying, he will come to you; because a man can cry in front of his mother without feeling self-conscious.  Even when he grows up and has a new woman in his life and gets a new home, you are still his mother; home base, the ever constant, like the sun.  Know that in your heart and everything else will fall into place. "