On raising boys

I’ll be honest, I have NO clue what raising girls is like; I just know that when I was little, I played with dolls a lot, not barbies, I don’t think I ever owned a barbie, but if anyone remembers She-Ra, I was sort of obsessed with her, and her entourage, thus, my sister and I owned many of these “action figures”, her castle, and some other accessories… Anyway, we played with dolls a lot, and we played a lot of imagination games that did NOT involve fighting, running, screaming, or racing.

Now, if you know anything about me, you know that I really dislike stereotyping people, including little girls and boys, I just believe that individuality is so important, and each person is so complex that there is no possible way that stereotyping can ever make any sense, but, please allow me this once to say, my boys are such BOYS!! Holy crap!!

My 2 year old… he’s TWO… he is obsessed with motorbikes! Did I mention he is two? And we don’t know anyone who owns a motorbike! He just hears the sound and he gets all excited and is off looking for it! He pretends to be a transformer ALL.THE.TIME! In fact, I think that in his mind, he is a transformer! Complete with hands that can turn into weapons and everything!

As for my older 2 boys, these days they are always fighting… and “Hi-Ya-ing” non-stop – yes, it’s quite lovely!

And just to prove my point of the “stereotypical-ness” of my boys, a usual car conversation…

5 year old: Mommy, is that a Jaguar? They are really fast, I think I will get one when I am older, but… I don’t have to drive it fast all the time, sometimes I can drive it slow.

4 year old: I will get a race car!!!!

2 year old: Motorbike!! Vroom Vroom!

Ahh, good times!

Thoughts from Dahlia

My four year old is the same way!  He is obsessed with transformers, star wars, and pretty much anything else his eight year old cousin is into.

BTW, She-ra totally rocked!  When I have a random free moment, I will check out old episodes on youtube- so cheesy, but so good!

Did you ever watch Jem?

Thoughts from shaz

Jem? hmm, dunno who that is.

dude, you watch she-ra on youtube?! lol, you totally rock! i have to go look it up now. hahah

Thoughts from Emily

I LOVED She-Ra!  I had the action figures, too.  I always remember her horse which was pink tinted, but otherwise see-through.  I thought that was so cool. 

I don’t think I could go back and watch the episodes, though.  I wouldn’t want to ruin my good memories as I’m sure they would be REALLY bad from my current perspective.

Thoughts from Cakes

totally different animals.

I have boy/girl twins and they have always had access to all the same toys, exposed to all the same media etc. etc.  They are totally different animals.

Thoughts from Achelois

I know what you mean. I’m so nervous around little girls already. I’m fine with girls Mariam’s age but I don’t think I’m used to little girls anymore.

Thoughts from Specs

Okay, my youngest brother had a nursery play-mate. The kid’s got a stuffed lion and a Barbie doll and she’s making them talk to each other really nicely. All of a sudden, my brother, who’s three goes over and tells her to play with him. He takes the Barbie and whacks the lion on her head and then pretends the lion ate the Barbie up (insert sound effects as horrific as you can imagine here) And the little kid started crying.
This is coming from a boy who has THREE elder sisters, ALL of them teenagers at the time and hence really girlish. THAT was the day i realized, boys will be boys. You just can’t do anything about it. And you have Masha’Allah three together with no sister to rain on their Tae-kwon-do fest.

Thoughts from koonj

Haha, I love raising a girl as opposed to a boy. However I must say my girl is obsessed with trucks and trains, not dolls at all. She does hug and kiss her teddy bear, of course, and she loves animals, but she is really absorbed by cranes, diggers, lawnmowers and, yes, Bob the Builder (thanks to her, I can’t get the jingle out of my head).

Thoughts from shaz

Emily - i’m sure you’re right about it not being as “cool” as we remember! lol i would still check it out tho, i don’t think that my memory of it would be ruined, prolly be amusing now!

Cakes - well, i actually sorta see the difference in my nieces, but i still wonder what it would be like if i had a daughter??

Achelois - i know! i am actually superly loving and “careful” around girls, as if i might break them or something! hahah

Specs - that is an interesting story! i will admit, i only have “boy-ish” toys, but my boys are always like “ewww, barbies, ewww”!

koonj - i would actually love to have a girl, but i think that boys are prolly less “maintenance” as they grow up, so i am hoping that at some point, i’ll have it easy-ish! i think almost all kids like machines, no?

Thoughts from sf

LOL, I should say the opposite since I got 2 lil girls myself. Yes, I totally remember she-ra and how about he-man, lol, seems ages ago and thanks for the youtube tip, will go look for it too!