Tuesday, January 3

See now...

 It's never too late to teach old dogs new tricks!  If you teach boys to pick up after themselves, and direct their energy into games and sports but not putting their hands on others or self-destructively "crashing" into things injuring themselves -- and others! -- you raise better men.

And better drivers.  You see, what you "applaud" them for as little guys ("he's soooo rambunctious:  always getting hurt and ending up injured in the ER, and making marks on his siblings too! whatta boy!), you make more problems for others when they crash into people outside your household, cause injuries, and get held accountable for it...

Better the "time out" chair now -- and less time spend with and Eastern European (turned american citizen lite) system of raising little boys and girls that worked last century, but is not so en vogue now.  Let's the kids do for themselves!  Own their own experiences, and not always be beholden to another person's scheduling and planned... "treats".

Independence is treat enough in America, no? They don't have to act like little ones forever to be happy; some times it's good to be grown, and calling your own shots in life, even if it's a much less luxurious one than you would have acting without constant "help" (which truth be told? is likely costing you more in stress and authority of your own than doing for yourself, and accepting the results of what your own work did, without outside assistance...)

You got this.  You're not really so young or little anymore, but for grown girls and their boys, accepting this early might be a blessing that pays off in time...

*You don't want to be raising boys-to-men when their messes, like their bodies, are bigger and they still pretend to be incapable of wiping their own rear ends, say...