Raising Boys: Respect Their Level of Activity

by Trula on November 27, 2006 · No Comments

One thing that I read about and other people tried to prepare me for was that boys are much more active than girls. I have 3 older brothers I was raised with and they were very active but for some reason I just thought that was just my brothers, and/or that boys were so active and rough in their play because of how they were parented and social expectation. Well, I soon learned better with my own boys. How they played was a shock and surprise after having a girl and I truly felt that I could ‘make’ them behave/play like she did.

When my older son was getting to be school age we applied to this uber-swank private boys school, and during the interview process I learned a great deal about their philosophy on educating boys and was impressed at the low discipline rate. One thing they did that initially shocked me was that they allowed the boys to jump on their tables and desks and they took frequent breaks to run around and often took class outside. I was dumbfounded, like you want me to pay crazy money for my son to come here jumping on the table, playing around acting the fool? I want him to sit still and learn! But then the prinicipal explained how that helped boys and reduced a lot of stress and tension for them and helped them to learn better. and gave me book references that explained how boys and girls learn differently and how they grow differently and stuff. After my son got wait-listed we chose to move to another city rather than put him in this school, but I incorporated what I learned into our family life.

Rather than get upset and/or discipline them for running around, jumping on furniture, throwing themselves about, I just let them do it and also encourage them to go outside more. When they were younger, there were years we practically lived at the park, LOL. This meant I had to adjust a lot of my attitude and ways, like I had to go outside more in winter and stuff. But I am glad I did because this helps my sons know I respect them as males. and it helps them in school, because though they go to a regular public school since they are allowed to be ‘free’ at home that helps them sit still at school when it is required.

Here are some pics of my boys from this past weekend being very active! They are from my phone so pardon the quality. They piled cushions and blankets on the floor and leaped off the couch (across from the cushions, you can’t see it in the pics) onto them. In the first pic t-bop had missed the cushions, LOL.