Our eldest son Louis is just about to turn two and a half. This is a kid who is constantly on the move. He was a 'busy' baby in-vitro, he arrived in just 4 hours from first contraction to delivery & basically hasn't stopped moving since. This boy is a force of nature & I love him dearly. He's now on the way out of the terrible two's (which for us started at 18 months) now that his language is starting to mature, but what I love most, is his cheeky love of life. Louis is a boy who could have inspired the phrase "slugs, snails & puppy dogs tails". Mess is good. Chaos, good. Mud, good. Battles, good. Food, as long as it's 'Choc-lit', 'bikkie', or 'juss', good. Life for Louis is pretty straight forward or.... good.
One of my pet peeves about being the mother of 2 little boys' is what my friend calls "the over feminisation of our boys'". She is the solo mother of 2 boy's herself & a primary (elementary) school teacher. Both her boy's are what I like to call 'busy'. She has been an invaluable resource for me as Louis has gotten older as she has been able to reassure me that my dear boy is in fact perfectly normal. In these increasingly more politically correct times I have seen the phenomenon of PC clap trap making it's way into our playgrounds & nursery schools. Now I am all for trying to teach naturally rambunctious boys' the importance of being 'gentle' & the boundaries of sensible social behaviour, but one fact remains the same, they're boys!
They have a 'Y' chromosome that just makes them act, behave & think differently. If there is something that moves, they'll move it, if it wet, they'll splash it, if it dangles, they'll pull it, if it's quiet, they'll make noise, if the doors shut, they'll open it, if a box is full, they'll empty it - this is what boys do. They also shoot you with a machine gun (in our case any pen or clothes peg will do) or cut you down with a light saber (chopstick or his real favourite, one of my knitting needles) he fights battles with his real & imaginary friends - all perfectly normal.
If you have been like me & have suffered 'those' glances, you know the one's, or have had over protective mothers at the playground glaring as your child in full flight comes within six feet of another child, be reassured, you're not alone & you can walk tall in the fact that studies have shown that busy, free thinking, highly imaginative boys', like our sons, are the men of the future who grow up to become world leaders, captains of industry, men who make change. As my grandmother always said, "It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for"
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