Things Only the Mother of Boys Could Say

As the mother of three sons, I'm of the opinion that life has already handed me more than enough surprises. But being a mother of said amount of boys seems to make one surprising thing after another come out of my mouth.

I mean, fifteen years ago I never could've predicted that I would one day be yelling from the kitchen, "BOYS! Stop grabbing your brother's balls!!" Nor that I would follow it up five minutes later with, "Stop it with the ball-grabbing or you will both be sent to your rooms until dinner!"  

Boys have brought me low, my friends. VERY low, indeed.

But, they have also brought me moments of hearty and sustained laughter that can only come from laughing at your boy-child (while simultaneously cheering him on, of course) at his first hockey lessons. Watch this and then imagine that there was a full half hour of little bodies staggering, wobbling, and falling all over the ice. Constantly. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen, so help me. 

My little guy is #45. I would be the one barely containing my cackling in the audio track. I love the contrast of the one mom yelling encouragement to her son, while some dad and I are just hooting at how absurd all the little drunkards on ice look. Thank goodness for all that padding they wear, because I wouldn't feel nearly so good about my uncontrollable mirth if there was a chance that someone could actually get hurt.

++++

In other news, life over on babble.Com at strollerderby, is keeping me BUSY. As I near the end of my fourth month writing for them, I am happy as can be about my position there. I love that they allow me to write in my own voice and interject my opinions about the news I am writing about in, what I think, a meaningful way.

Here are links to some of my favorite pieces in the last few weeks:

Is Four Too Young for an ADHD Diagnosis? — This one really got me. Even though I 100% believe that kids with ADHD benefit from medication when it comes to attending school and making friends... the thought of medicating FOUR-year-olds just terrifies me. They are just so little! And why should we need four-year-olds to sit still long enough to make the medication necessary? 

Common-Sense Strategies to Turn Your Kids (Especially Boys) into Voracious Readers — This one got me, too, because I feel like it's a lesson that I came to too late. No worse feeling in the world...


2011′s Most Embarrassing Halloween Costumes: Gallery of Shame and Epically Geeky and Fantastically Creative Costumes For The Coolest Kids on the Block — I combed through a ton of costume sites and flickr to find all of these costumes. Totally laughed myself silly writing the first one and was green with envy over the creativity of the costumes in the second one. 


Ten Husband-Inspired Pet Peeves That Make Me Crazy — This one I just posted today. I love the affirmation in the comments. My pet peeves are not far off from your pet peeves. Or maybe the lesson is that all men are the same. I'm not sure.


The Recession of Manhood — This post was a rare moment where my old-fashioned, conservative came out to talk about how new-fangled parenting techniques might be part of the problem for why young men are doing not-so-well these days. There are many persuasive comments about how it is the girl-centric education system of the USA that is at the root of the problem, but I remain unconvinced. 
I Want a “Mommy Salary” — This one had me looking like some kind of throwback from the 50's, too, but I still think it is an interesting concept for getting the world to value what the stay-at-home-parent does more. Again, the comment section (when not blasting me) offers some really great budgeting options to keep things "fair" in household money management.