The Trouble with Boys...

Boys. 

What did I think when I found out I was having a boy?

Yowza.

I don't know ANYTHING about boys. 

I knew I liked to kiss them.

And I knew that they like to watch college football on Saturdays and really don't like to be asked more than once to do things.

That they are tough and kind.  Smart and loyal.  They like dark liquors that I think are yucky.

But raising a boy?  I know nothing about that!

There are all kinds of having a boy secrets they don't tell you.  Like when you have been a Mom to a boy for a week and every single diaper is leaking, its because you aren't tucking him in properly.

And those boy parts?  You have to do all sorts of things to them after they get clipped at the hospital.

Gauze.  Vaseline. 

But those are thinks you can figure out along the way.

What do I know about raising a boy to be a great man?

I know we want to raise Robbie to say yes ma'am and no ma'am. To know to walk on the street side.  To open doors and stand when ladies enter. 

Call me old fashioned, but for a liberated woman... I am.

Boys need to not only become men.  But become gentlemen.

So enter this week.  With all of the blogs and articles and posts that get passed around, I came across this one.  Forgive me Team Studer for cross posting, but these are important lessons. 

http://studerteam.blogspot.com/2011/11/25-rules-for-mothers-of-sons.html

I'm so happy to be a Mom to a boy.

A gentle-boy.

Real men aren't all sports and toughness and brown liquor.

Our job is to teach all of these things.  But some of my favorites?

To teach Robbie how to communicate like a man (#1), show up (#2), give him the tools to go on dates (#3), value and respect women (#7), show him the world outside himself (#16), teach him to think and be thoughtful (#18), and of the most importance, always be his Mom (#25).

Boys?

They are pretty awesome.