Raising Boys

It's interesting I don't think I ever pictured myself with only boys. I'm sure thankful I got such wonderful boys though! So yesterday a good friend sent me this article about raising wild boys. Wow did that article ever resound with me! Know what this is?

 Yup it's a five gallon bucket of sticks that I am not allowed to throw away. Every time I pick up a stick in this yard someone yells "That's my best sword/gun/spear/wand/baton/etc" If we go for a hike or walk you can be guaranteed I'll be hauling sticks back in my van. Last month they were trying to get me to carry their rocks down a mountain when we went on a hike. (I didn't, I was busy carrying me.)

So are my boys busy and maybe a bit wild? Yup. And like the author of that article, I am not apologizing for them. We aren't the perfect parents by any means but that's not why they are busy, it's not parenting, it's not from the tv, it's WHO THEY ARE. And guess what? God doesn't create all children equal. It's not sin that makes a boy busy. It's sin that makes him do bad things and I know for a fact the quiet ones do bad things too, they just do them quietly...

And in case anyone was wondering, my boys have opinions are girls stuff. They like to pick my nail polish colours they almost always notice my outfit on Sunday morning and tell me I look pretty. They love learning to cook and bake and they all three know how to put in a load of laundry. Ethan loves learning piano and they can spend hours and hours laying on their bedroom floor quietly playing lego.

Yet every day my neighbours likely hear me yelling "Outside or downstairs!!"

Raising boys is hard, it's different when you have a houseful of them and you're the only female, but I'm praying these guys are going to bring me home some daughter in laws some day and I want them to have lots of rough and tumble practice at being strong men who protect and take care of their families. That's the kind of man I have and he was a wild boy too. I'm thinking their 'busyness' didn't hurt a few weeks ago on our trip to Manitoba when we picked 11 ice cream pails of strawberries in just over and hour! They were troopers!

Sometimes people say things to me like "Your boys have such great imaginations." "I love how much character they have!" (I know that this is code for "they are busy" but thanks for saying it like that because you are like me seeing the GOOD in being busy.)

If you are out there raising busy boys (and girls) and thinking you are the only one who can't get your kids sitting still in church, I'm here to tell you you aren't the only one and it is really ok! If we can just pray for help and do our jobs right just maybe that busy will translate into ambition! It sure did in my hubby!

The world needs more wild boys. :)