Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Mothering & the opposite sex

There is one thing I know for sure... that there are women in this world who are meant to be mothers. And there are women who are meant to be mothers of boys. The same holds true for mothers of girls, of which I am not... Thank goodness!

I remember a time when I was having lunch with a friend and her daughter, when out of the blue the little girl became upset. Her whines quickly turned to tears. I was baffled, bewildered, and unequivocally puzzled. I could feel panic swelling in my gut. My pulse raced and my eyes darted from side to side in terror. What happened? Did I miss something? What changed this sweet little girl into a sobbing, blubbering mess in the blink of an eye?

You see I have boys, and they don't whine. They seldom cry, unless they are seriously hurt. I mean physically in pain. Like a limb is broken or a finger is caught in the door. Or they've fallen out of a tree or they've taken a ball to the groin. Now don't get me wrong - they throw fits and tantrums, but it doesn't remotely sound like the whining you hear from girls. When I think about being a mother of two boys, I know that it was my destiny. There is no way on earth I would ever be able to function under the pressure of whining.

On the other hand, when I do [or review] homework with my oldest son, I need to remember to take an extra dose of Valium in order to keep my composure. News flash: men & women do not think alike, or perform at the same level. Yet, because I am a detail oriented (okay, okay ... anal) person, I expect him to produce very meticulous, very neat and very accurate work. He, on the other hand, will spend the least amount of time to complete a task. Neatness is not his forte. And if you ask him, directions are for pansies and it's an abdominal waste of time to check over your work. Needless to say, this drives me craaaazy! He could be an exemplary student if he gave it more effort.

But he's a typical boy and no matter how hard I ride him, we will never see eye to eye. It's human nature for the opposite sex to be, well, opposite. I just need to relax, give him some space and pray that he will get superior guidance from his teachers, and his father.

1 comment:

  1. me too - me too - me too

    Not all homeworks seems to be a crazed issue with us but both of the boys have certain areas that they ugh, fuss, slack on. You ought to peek in my window some night at homework time, Lisa...it's not funny :o).

    I appreciate your thoughts here, they made me smile because I (too) am most definately a "mother of boys". My dreadful mothering of girls would have been the pre-teen and teen years. I'll handle the boys energy in full abundance now with a smile because I know that it's much easier for me than handling emotional girls :o) (see Lisa...God figured we have enough trouble figuring out our own emotional turbulence so he went easy on us :o).

    Love to ya, sister.

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