Friday 14 September 2012

A dad's advice on raising boys


Something light for the weekend....a friend recently shared this article Raising Boys (A Dad's Advice for Moms) written by Tom Matlack. If you have a son, I think you will enjoy it and relate to the points listed. I really like to read a male perspective on parenting. It's often quite humourous but also perceptive and highlights things that us mums might miss or even dismiss.

My favourites from the advice given are:

Watch his body and not his mouth - I agree completely that a boy reveals his emotional state through body language. This sounds so much like my son: "Jumping up and down with six-inch vertical leaps is the natural state of being and is good".

Crowds, not so much - I was surprised to read that this is considered the case for all boys and whilst I'm not convinced it applies to every boy, it certainly is true of my son. Like Matlack says, I too try to protect my son from such situations where I know he will feel uncomfortable. As my daughter gets older, I will be interested to compare how she reacts among crowds. Currently it doesn't appear to bother her....

Bedtime is sacred - "The best time of day is the ten minutes before they go to sleep". That end of the day time together really is rather special. You have their attention, if you're lucky they might cuddle up to you a bit while you read their bedtime stories. They try to prolong the day by chattering away and coming out with all kind of sweet, funny lines. However bad the day might have been, it's a moment to be treasured.

Have a read of the article and let me know what you think and which bits resonated best with your experience of raising boys.
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